


Star Child

by kayladie



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - Historical, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-29
Updated: 2011-11-29
Packaged: 2017-10-26 16:11:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/285289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayladie/pseuds/kayladie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex Luthor's father exiles him to the wilds of Kansas after being embarrassed by his son's antics one too many times.  At first, Alex is resentful of his banishment, but then he meets the most fascinating man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a SV Harlequin challenge on LJ in 2007.

**Part One**

A sly little wink here, the briefest hint of a smile there. Now a quick little dip of the tongue over barely pursed lips. Oh, yes, his message had definitely gotten through. Ah, and there was certainly interest from the other party as well. Lovely. He hadn’t had someone new in his bed for almost a week, and his previous conquest was already becoming boring.

“Alexander! Are you listening?”

The sharp, slightly nasal tone of his sire jerked him rudely back from thoughts of what he’d like to do to the pretty page standing behind his father’s chair. Alexander was standing in front of the dais his father sat upon like a throne, feeling somewhat like a peasant coming to beg favors of a king. An impression which Lionel Luthor intended, and one which his son had always despised.

He could never let his father know this, of course, as that was all part of the game of cat-and-mouse they’d played with each other forever, ever since Alex’s mother had died fifteen years ago when he was twelve. It varied which of them was the cat and which the mouse.

“Of course, Father, what else could possibly hold my attention more than your own dulcet tones?” Alex said, his tone the perfect blend of obsequiousness, with just a trace of derision. Never outright though, not where his father could call him on it, because that would certainly be poor playing on his part.

“Perhaps the latest servant to catch your eye?”

“I assure you, my focus is purely on what you have to say, Father. I would never disrespect you in such a manner,” Alex lied easily.

“Then you don’t object to my sending you to Kansas to oversee our holdings there for a while?” Lionel said, his words a vindictive purr.

And now he _did_ have Alexander’s complete attention, because that was not what they’d been discussing, Alex was almost certain of it. Almost. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be completely sure because he had been very distracted by that gorgeous young man who was now refilling his father’s cup with wine.

Alex straightened, fighting hard not to let his emotions show on his face, as his mind quickly whipped through possible responses to his father’s obvious challenge. He couldn’t outright refuse to go, for that was defiance that he wasn’t quite prepared to give yet. But he also couldn’t let his father know exactly how opposed he was to the idea, because that would be showing fear, and he definitely couldn’t have that.

“I’m not sure that’s absolutely necessary at this time, is it? When I’m so close to persuading Hamilton to invest in our racing stock?” _Yes, that’s it, stall, make him think of money, of business, that will distract him, put him off this wretched idea._

Lionel waved a hand lazily. “Oh, you’ve already done most of the hard work, Son, I’m sure I can close the deal without you. You’ll prove so much more valuable to me out there. I need someone to insure that my interests in the new railroad line are being protected and I believe you’re just the man for the job.”

Alex hadn’t had breathing problems in years – since the last time he’d traveled with his mother in Kansas, in fact – but right now, it was all he could do to keep air moving in and out of his lungs. He’d never thought his sire to be a nice man, not by any stretch of the imagination, but he would never have thought Lionel so cruel as to send Alex back to the place of his nightmares.

“I…Father, I can’t…” And this was weakness, damn it all! He could not let his father see him lose control so completely, and yet he was helpless to stop the panic rising in his heart.

“Alexander, you are approaching thirty years old, don’t you think it’s time that you grew up and started taking some responsibility? I grow very weary of having to read about your latest scandal in the newspaper every week,” Lionel said harshly.

Alex had thought, upon coming to this meeting, that it would be the normal lecture on what a disappointment he was as a son; why wasn’t he married yet; when was he going to start learning the family business in earnest; the usual spiel. In a way, Alex was almost grateful for the return to normalcy because he was afraid that he was going to have a complete breakdown in front of his father and the sycophants that hung on Lionel’s every word, and that just wouldn’t do. Not at all.

Somehow, he managed to rein in his imminent meltdown, and answered his father in the usual vein of sarcasm verging on disrespect.

“Surely, Father, you can’t expect me to believe that you even read the society pages? I thought your copy of the newspaper didn’t even come with anything but the headlines and the business section,” he drawled.

Okay, there, his heart rate was slowing to something resembling normal, and breathing became a little less painful.

“Oh, but Son, your latest _affaire_ is indeed the headline, so I don’t see how I could have missed it,” Lionel growled.

“What are you talking about?” Alex asked, truly dumbfounded. What had he possibly done that could have been front page news? He had always been so careful to be utterly discreet. Certainly, there were rumors and innuendo about his activities, but rarely any proof.

“I have overlooked all the many women you’ve indulged in, both common and blueblood, but Alexander, I will not have you sully the Luthor name with your base predilections for your own gender. I simply will not have it!”

Oh… _fuck_!

This was bad. This was so far beyond bad that Alex could barely even process how very disastrous it was. He’d been having sexual encounters with both males and females since he turned sixteen and his father had always seemed to be oblivious. Alex had thought that he was merely choosing to look the other way, but the sheer rage on his father’s face at the moment told him that Lionel had not known. But now he _did_ know, and he was furious.

The panic quickly rising in his chest again, Alex attempted to think, to try and figure out how the newspaper had gotten hold of this information, and indeed, who the information even referred to. And he needed to defuse his father’s fury, and fast, before he really did find himself banished to the wilds of Kansas. At least now he knew where that threat had come from.

“Father, allow me to explain. There must have been an error on someone’s part. What have you heard that would make you think this rumor is true?”

“Rumor, Son? I don’t think so. You were observed last week in a _passionate embrace_ ,” Lionel said, the words falling from his mouth in a disdainful sneer, “with none other than a stablehand. At Lady Hardwick’s spring soiree, no less. To make matters worse, neither of you were adequately clothed, and I would love to hear how you would like to explain that.”

His father’s eyes challenged him, and Alex felt very much like a helpless fly pinned to the wall. He swallowed carefully, feeling his whole life falling away before him.

“Who…was the observer?” He needed to know, so he could first discredit them in his father’s eyes and then make whomever it was pay with their life for mucking about so foolishly with his own.

“Young Miss Hardwick herself, Victoria, I believe her name is. The poor girl was quite traumatized and had be given a sleeping powder to calm down,” Lionel said from between clenched teeth.

 _That bitch!_ Alex thought furiously. Traumatized, right. He barely kept from scoffing at his father’s claim. Victoria certainly hadn’t been traumatized when she was writhing in between the sheets with both himself and Anthony just a few weeks ago. He never should have ignored the niggling sense of danger he’d felt when he refused to marry her as she’d begged him to once the night was over. Alex had known she was a shrew, but he would never have thought her to be this vindictive.

“Victoria is a bit enamored of me, Father, and unfortunately, I find that I don’t return her affections. I fear that she may have fabricated this story in a bit of misguided revenge,” Alex said, carefully trying to control his alarm.

“Perhaps you should consider returning those affections, Alexander. You certainly wouldn’t have found yourself in the position that you’re in now if you had, now would you?” Lionel said, as he gazed at Lex with a shrewd gleam in his eye.

What the hell? Was this some scheme that Victoria had concocted with Lionel? Or had she merely counted on that being his father’s reaction to the news? Alex’s mind flailed about briefly, trying to come up with some reasonable counter to his father’s transparent suggestion. He would almost rather go to Kansas than marry Victoria, that little slut.

“Oh, please, Father, Victoria is in no way worthy of the Luthor name. She’s not been very discreet in her own affairs. If you’re wanting the good people of New York to forget any tiny indiscretions I may have displayed, then I need to marry a young woman who is above reproach. Not Victoria Hardwick.”

“Very well, Son. If you haven’t found someone to wed within a week, expect to find yourself on your way to Kansas City immediately thereafter,” Lionel said calmly.

Alex was anything but calm, and was barely managing to keep from throwing a hysterical fit right there and then. “A week, Father? I hardly think that’s enough time-”

“Alexander, you’ve already had relations with half the eligible women in this city. I should think you wouldn’t need more than a day or two to choose a bride.”

Alex stood there, stunned, unable to say another word in his own defense, wondering how his entire life had suddenly collapsed around him. What kind of choice was that…to marry immediately or go to Kansas? He wasn’t sure which would be the greater hell.

The truly terrible part about the whole ordeal was that Alex knew he really had no say in the matter. Even though Alexander was well past his majority and supposedly a valued part of his father’s empire, Lionel Luthor kept a tight fist on all of his holdings. Alex had nothing of his own and wouldn’t until Lionel died. Even then, Alex couldn’t say for certain that Lionel didn’t have a bastard or two out there ready to replace Alexander should his legitimate son disappoint him.

For a moment, thoughts of patricide drifted through his mind, but Alex knew he would never be able to go through with it. If only Lionel would have a convenient heart spasm and drop dead…preferably before the end of the week.

“Now, I really do have other business to attend to, Son, so if you wouldn’t mind taking your leave?”

Although it was phrased as a question, Alex was under no illusion that it was anything other than an order. Numbly, he gave his father a half-bow and turned to walk out of the room.

“Oh, Alexander?”

Alex paused and turned back, gritting his teeth, having expected a last minute dig. Lionel could never let one of their encounters end without driving home the fact that he was the undisputed ruler of his little kingdom.

“Always such a pleasure to see you, Son,” Lionel said, with a shark’s smile.

“You, too, Father,” Alex replied tonelessly. He had abruptly lost all patience with the games and before his father could say anything else, Alex quickly made his escape.

~*~*~

Ten days later, Alex sullenly sat hunched into a corner of the compartment he’d been hiding in for most of the trip to Kansas City. The few times he had ventured out to mingle with the other passengers on the train, he hadn’t been able to stand the gaping at his bald head. In New York, people knew him and so they didn’t stare. Alex wouldn’t go so far as to say all of them accepted him, but at least they were accustomed to his unusual looks.

The train would be arriving in Kansas City soon and then Alex faced a stagecoach ride for another fifty miles to the small city of Granville, where Luthor Incorporated was busy trying to continue construction on a rail line to Wichita. Granville was as far as the Northern Pacific Railway Company – wholly owned by one Lionel Luthor – had gotten in the last two years. Apparently his father was very displeased at their lack of progress.

Making the decision to be banished to Kansas hadn’t been as difficult as Alex had thought it would, especially when he considered that the alternative was marriage, possibly to Victoria Hardwick. Alex managed to repress his shudder. Marriage was permanent; there was at least the chance that the banishment wouldn’t be.

Still, knowing that he was returning to the place that had forever changed his life had brought about the recurrence of nightmares that Alex hadn’t had since he was a child. He could still vividly recall the noise, the smell of burning ash, the terror that had tasted so sour in his mouth. Closing his eyes, Alex forcefully put those memories out of his head. Perhaps if he did well here acting as his father’s lackey, then Lionel would let him return to New York quicker, hopefully without the continued threat of matrimony.

Two hours later, he was standing in the middle of a busy station in Kansas City, extremely unhappy that no one was there to meet him. The train had pulled in almost an hour ago, and Alex wondered if this was another of his father’s little displays of power. After yet another mother pulled a gawking child away from pointing at the ‘funny man with no hair’, he was seriously considering finding a store nearby where he could buy a hat. Alex hated hats.

“Mr. Luthor?” a hesitant voice said from behind him.

Alex turned to find a young man about his age looking at him with a combination of hope and fear.

“Mr. Luthor is my father. You may call me Alexander. And you are?”

“Albert Simmons, sir. I’m the uh, foreman of the Granville crew.”

Alex gazed at the timid man doubtfully. He certainly didn’t seem like one of his father’s usual toadies. “Really?” he said, letting the sarcasm roll off his tongue.

Albert didn’t seem to notice. “Yes, sir. I apologize profusely for being late in coming to fetch you, but there’ve been some problems…” he started and then broke off as he looked at Alex guiltily. “But I suppose we can discuss that later, once you’re settled in.”

“Yes, fine. Do you think we could get moving now? I believe I’ve seen enough of the train station to last me a while,” Alex said pointedly.

Finally, Albert must have realized that his new boss was none too happy about being left to wait on his first day in town and Alex had to hold back a laugh at the way the man’s entire face turned a dull red color. He allowed Albert to bluster around collecting the several bags that Alex had brought with him, and eventually they were loaded onto an ancient looking stagecoach. Alex gave the thing a dubious look.

“This doesn’t exactly seem up to usual Luthor standards,” he observed.

Albert once again flushed in embarrassment before he replied. “Well, uh, that’s one of the things I guess we need to discuss, sir. There’ve been some difficulties with a rogue Indian tribe near the work site.”

“Explain please,” Alex said shortly, and wondered what the hell his father had gotten him into.

Albert stumbled his way through a semi-coherent explanation as the stagecoach lumbered its way away from civilization towards the hell where Alex would have to suffer for god only knew how long. He certainly hoped that his father’s ill mood would pass quickly because this was beginning to sound worse than the marriage option.

“So let me make sure I understand this. There’s a group of disgruntled Indians, who think that we’re encroaching on their territory, even though they’re not a tribe recognized by the US government.”

“That’s because they just popped up out of nowhere about ten years ago. No one had ever heard of them prior to that,” Albert interrupted.

“Yes, yes, I got that. And they’re calling themselves the Kawatche?” Alex said impatiently. Albert nodded. “And they’ve been sabotaging the work site, stealing supplies, and generally scaring the hell out of the work crew?”

“Um, yes, that’s pretty much the situation, sir.”

“Why has no one ever informed my father of this? He would have put a stop to it some time ago if-” Alex broke off at the strange look that suddenly came across Albert’s face. “What is it?” he demanded, even though he had a sickening feeling he knew exactly what the man was about to say.

“Your father is aware of the situation, sir. He’s always known about it.”

Alex’s lips thinned to a grim line and he turned his head to look out at the rapidly passing landscape. So, either his father had sent him here to fail or he’d sent him here to die. Alex wondered which one Lionel was hoping for.

“Thanks, Dad,” he muttered under his breath.

He curtly informed Albert that conversation for the rest of the trip was unnecessary. Alex then spent the rest of the journey staring out the window at the passing landscape, brooding over what he’d learned. He was pondering whether Lionel would relieve his son of his exiled status before Alex was killed or simply lost his mind.

When they finally reached their destination, Alex had to fight hard to keep his dismay from showing on his face, and he was well accustomed to having to hide his emotions. Granville. He wondered if that was some sort of goal the town was striving for or if it was irony on someone’s part, because the place was anything but grand. They couldn’t even claim the ‘D’ in the name.

There was one main street, with buildings clustered on either side of it. Alex was gratified to note that there was a saloon, because he envisioned having to imbibe serious amounts of alcohol to make it through this experience. As he stepped out of the stagecoach, following Albert to the hotel where he’d be staying, Alex could feel the stares and almost hear the curious whispers. Whether more of it was due to his baldness or the fact that he was Lionel Luthor’s son was anyone’s guess.

Albert was babbling something about the town being the base of operations and how they’d ride out to the current work site in the morning, but Alex really wasn’t paying any attention to him. Thankfully, these few shabby buildings didn’t really resemble the place that his nightmares recalled, but just being back in the vicinity of where the accident had happened made Alex very uneasy.

Right now, all he wanted was the privacy of his own room, a little of the scotch he’d snitched from his father’s supply, and his bed. It would’ve been nice to have some company in that bed, but glancing at the locals, Alex wasn’t very optimistic about his sex life while he was here.

It took him another hour to finally get rid of Albert, but at long last he was ensconced in the small hotel room that was to be his home for the next…well, who knew how long, but it was probably measured in months rather than weeks, judging by the intensity of his father’s anger at their last meeting. Alex poured a little more scotch into the glass he’d found by the bed and swallowed it down in one gulp. This hotel certainly wasn’t up to New York standards, but at least the glassware was nice. He’d take the small pleasures where he could get them at the moment.

~*~*~

‘In the morning’ came way too early for someone who wasn’t used to seeing the light of the outside world until well past the noon hour on most days. But Alex found himself sitting beside Albert in the stagecoach once again, bleary-eyed from having drunk a little too much of the scotch in his pity party of the previous night.

Being still just a little bit drunk was the reason he gave himself for giving in to his fears and wearing the stocking cap that was on his head. He had tried to pretend it was only because he feared sunburn in the bright Kansas daylight, but a part of him knew that it was really that he didn’t want to be stared at by the men that were going to be working for him.

Albert was once again blathering on about the work site, or at least Alex assumed he was. The steady pounding in his head was pretty much drowning out any actual words. He was so immersed in his own misery that it took a few moments for him to recognize the driver’s shout of dismay for what it was. That was also the instant that he realized the pounding was coming not from his head, but from dozens of horses that were swarming around the stagecoach.

Albert was no longer speaking; instead, he was screaming in a high-pitched squeal that was annoying Alex so much that he could only barely focus enough to be afraid. He finally managed to break out of his stupor long enough to reach out and give Albert’s shoulders a firm shake.

“What the hell is going on?!”

“It’s those Kawatche! But they’ve never attacked so close to Granville before, I don’t understand…”

Alex swore under his breath and turned to look out the window at their assailants. The driver was obviously trying to outrun them, but it was equally obvious that it was a futile endeavor. The Indians rode their horses with such skill, it was as though they were one with the beasts. Their faces were painted in garish colors; their dark hair flowed with the wind behind them; their hands each held a fearsome looking weapon of some sort. If he weren’t petrified that he was about to be killed, Alex might have admired the fierce picture they represented.

His erstwhile foreman might not have realized why the Kawatche were changing their methods, but Alex suspected the truth. Clearly, these were no plain ignorant savages. They were no doubt quite aware of exactly who the passenger in the stagecoach was. The son of their enemy. A very visible focal point on which to vent their anger, frustration, and revenge.

 _Thanks, Dad, I guess you’ve managed to get me killed after all_ , Alex thought bleakly. He felt the moment that the Indians must have taken out their driver, as the stagecoach lurched sharply to one side, throwing Alex and Albert helplessly against the door, and then down to the floor. The coach picked up speed for a few moments as the horses panicked now that no one was leading them, and then it began to list seriously to the left and Alex knew they were going over.

He tried to brace himself, but there wasn’t much to hold onto and he ended up being bounced around the interior of the coach along with Albert. The crash when it hit the ground was loud, frightening, and dust and dirt flew everywhere, blinding Alex and stinging his eyes. There was one long moment of perfect silence, wherein Alex tried to imagine that this was all just a dream and he was going to wake up in his bed back in New York, but then the door above their heads was wrenched open.

Albert was blubbering loudly, pleading for his life, but all Alex could do was stare mesmerized at the angry face peering down at him. The next thing he knew, hands were reaching down, grabbing first him and then Albert and harshly pulling them out of the coach. The breath went out of him as he was thrown down to the ground. Alex scrambled to turn over onto his back so that he could at least face his killers.

There were perhaps two dozen of them, some of them tall, some shorter. They were all dressed similarly in brown buckskin breeches, with nothing covering their chests, although some of them wore odds and ends of adornments on their arms or around their necks. The one thing that he noticed quickly was that each of them looked very angry. Alex attempted to push his fear down, hoping that he’d be able to face his death with at least a modicum of dignity, but he was finding it extremely difficult not to join Albert in the begging routine.

The only thing that kept him from doing so was the absolute mess that Albert looked from all the crying and wailing. Alex may be about to die, but he certainly wasn’t going to do it with snot and tears running down his face. He only wished he could see his father one last time so he could give him a hearty _fuck you_.

The moment seemed to stretch out into forever as the Indians glared down at their captives. Alex was starting to wonder if they expected him to say something, and he was debating if he should attempt to bargain for his life, when one of the Kawatche made a sharp motion to one of his brethren.

That one gave a nod and stepped forward towards the two men lying on the ground. Before Alex could fully comprehend what was happening, the man had brought the small hatchet in his hand down brutally on Albert’s head, and just like that, Albert was gone.

Alex let out a small cry of shock and reared backwards away from the grisly scene, staring in horror as the Indian nonchalantly worked his weapon back out of Albert’s skull. His face felt wet, and Alex lifted a shaking hand to his cheek and had to swallow bile when his fingers came away red from the spatter of blood.

The first Indian gestured again and Alex jerked as the killer turned and gave him a vicious smile. That’s when Alex decided dignity be damned. He wasn’t going to lie here helplessly and let this savage snuff his life with no more concern than if he stepped on an ant. The killer raised his arm up, but before the hatchet could fall again, Alex reached out and kicked him as hard as he could in the knee.

He heard the satisfying crunch of bone cracking as the killer screamed and dropped to the ground. Immediately, half a dozen of them were on Alex, pummeling his head and body with sharp blows. Apparently his show of defiance had pissed them off and they were going to punish him before they killed him. Well, that was fine…Alex didn’t expect to win this fight, but he’d damn sure make certain a few of them felt it in the morning.

He kicked, clawed, bit, hit out with his fists in a frenzy, finding a strength that he hadn’t known he possessed until that moment. His strikes weren’t really having much of an effect on his assailants, but it did grant him a few minutes mercy from their death sentence as none of them seemed to be able to get hold of him firmly enough to kill him. Alex knew that couldn’t last, but he was determined to make them fight for his blood.

In the scuffle, his clothes were half ripped from his body as the Indians grabbed at him, trying to pin him down. His hat, the one he hadn’t even wanted to wear in the first place was pulled from his head, and he was glad of that, in a way. If he was going to die, he wanted to die as himself, as Alexander Luthor, bald freak, not some coward who hid behind a scrap of clothing.

Alex was tiring quickly, his burst of adrenaline fizzling out, and more of the savages’ blows were starting to land, when a voice saying a single word thundered through the mob surrounding him. To his astonishment, every single one of the men who were trying their level best to kill him froze instantly in their tracks. Another command in a language he didn’t know, and all of them dropped him and simultaneously backed several steps away.

He lay on the ground, panting with exhaustion, wondering what the hell was happening. Squinting up through one rapidly swelling blackened eye, Alex watched as one of the Indians who’d stayed in the background walked slowly towards him. Even fearing that this man was about to kill him on the spot, Alex couldn’t contain the indrawn breath of awe at the being who stopped at his feet. He was the tallest of them all by at least half a head and without a doubt the most beautiful thing that Alex had ever laid eyes on, male or female.

Even as he feared them, Alex could appreciate the raw, untamed magnificence of his captors. He was nothing if not a connoisseur of beauty, and this man went straight past magnificent into exquisite. His dark hair was as long as the others’ but had more of a wave to it, falling over bronzed shoulders that were impossibly wide. Two vivid stripes of blue paint marked his left cheek from nose to jaw, matched by two red ones on his right cheek.

Alex gazed in fascination at the broad chest that tapered down into slim hips and long, long legs. When he managed to raise his eyes back to the Indian’s face, he was met with a stare so intense, it seemed to burn right through him.

The Adonis turned and spoke a few harsh words to the Indian who had ordered Albert’s death, the one whom Alex had thought to be in charge. He wasn’t so certain of that anymore as he watched the two of them have a brief argument. Alex recognized well the executioner’s fear mingled with resentment of the Adonis. It was a position he’d found himself in quite frequently with Lionel.

The two exchanged a flurry of fierce words, and then the Adonis barked out another command and made a slashing gesture with one hand, ending the heated discussion. The other gave him a glare full of bitterness, but bowed his head in acquiescence before turning away. Alex held his breath, wondering what the hell all that was about and what it had to do with him. Perhaps they were arguing over who would have the chance to kill him?

The Adonis then turned all of his attention to the hostage on the ground, and Alex found himself short of breath from more than just the beating he’d endured. Truly, the man was awe-inspiring. Alex thought it a shame that something so beautiful was about to kill him. To his surprise, the Adonis knelt down in front of him and stared at him intently for several seconds.

Alex swallowed, and pondered whether this was some strange ritual he had to go through before striking the killing blow. Then the Adonis did something that rattled Alex more than anything else so far…he smiled. Not the malicious smirk of someone about to kill, but the tender smile of someone greeting a loved one they hadn’t seen in years. Alex blinked in confusion, trying to figure out what that could possibly be about and coming up with nothing logical whatsoever.

Adonis reached out with his hand towards Alex’s face, and Alex couldn’t restrain his flinch, anticipating a blow. Instead, Adonis lightly ran his fingertips down the side of Alex’s head, starting at the temple and trailing softly down to his jaw.

“Mishidhal,” Adonis sighed, almost reverently, and Alex felt his breath leave his body.

It was some sort of magic, it had to be, because that one word affected him more strongly than anything he could ever recall. It was strange, yet familiar, it was everything, and Alex suddenly knew without a doubt, that he had felt this man’s touch before…which was ridiculous, of course it was.

But it was true.

And it was far too much for his mind to process at the moment. The rush of emotion threatened to overwhelm him, and so he let it. The last thing he registered before the darkness swept him away was a pair of startlingly green eyes.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

 _The sky was falling. Not only falling, but hurtling down in great fiery chunks that screamed as they hit the ground. The noise was so loud that it hurt his ears, and he could smell the smoke and taste the ashes on his tongue._

 _He couldn’t find Mama. She had just been there, a moment ago, he was certain of it. Then he’d turned around and the sky was weeping and she was gone and he couldn’t find her. Alexander was trying so hard to be a big boy and be brave and not cry, but it was hard._

 _The fire was falling all around him and he was running, running as fast as he could to get away from it. Mama was just beyond that hill, he knew she was, and if he could just get to her, he would be okay._

 _He was going to make it, he was! It was so close. He started to smile, but then something hit so hard behind him that it sounded like a deafening roar, and he was flying helplessly through the air, the ground coming up to meet him as he landed hard face first in the dirt. Black smoke engulfed him, burning the back of his head._

 _Alexander jerked awake, surprised that he’d somehow fallen asleep in the middle of a field. Rolling over to his back, he looked up at clear blue sky, amazed that it was still up there. His whole body ached and though he tried to get up, he found that he hadn’t the strength to do so. Now the tears began to roll down his cheeks, as he shivered with fear and frustration._

 _A sound from nearby caught his attention and he turned his head to the side to see a small boy, no more than three or four years old, with dark, messy hair and vibrant green eyes grinning at him. The child was naked, but seemed unaware of it as he bent down beside Alexander, tilting his head as he gazed down at him curiously._

 _“Who are you?” Alexander whispered. “Where are your parents?”_

 _The little boy opened his mouth and chattered at him in some strange language that Alexander had never heard before. He knew of Spanish and French and Italian from his father, and this sounded like none of those. The child leaned over, running his hand down the side of Alexander’s face in a sweet caress, and somehow, it calmed Alexander a little._

 _“Mishidhal,” the boy said, and Alexander frowned, because he made that sound so important._

 _“Alexander!” The faint, frantic calling of his name had him turning his head towards the sound. It was repeated once more before he thought to respond to it._

 _“Mama! Mama, I’m here!” he called, so relieved that he felt like his bones had turned to liquid. “That’s my mama-” he started to say as he turned to look back at the little boy, but to Alexander’s surprise, the child was nowhere to be seen. “Hey, where did you go? Boy? Little boy? Where are you?!”_

 _Suddenly his mother was there, falling to her knees and grabbing him up in a tight embrace. “Alex! Oh, Alexander, here you are! I was so frightened when I couldn’t find you.”_

 _Alexander closed his eyes and let himself relax into her arms. Mama would take care of him now, and maybe she’d be able to find the little boy, because Alexander just knew that he was important somehow, and he was worried about the child. His mother finally pulled back to look at him and he frowned in confusion when she gave a distressed little cry and stroked his head with the palm of her hand._

 _“Oh, my poor darling,” she murmured._

 _How strange that he could feel the cool of her hand so sharply against his scalp, but he was still more concerned about the boy._

 _“Mama, did you see where the boy went?”_

 _“What boy?” she asked, still caressing his head and face._

 _“There was a little boy. He had dark hair and green eyes. He was right here just a moment ago. I think we need to look for him because I don’t think he could find his mother and father either.”_

 _“Oh, Alexander, I think perhaps you were dreaming. There was no little boy here when I found you.”_

~*~*~

Alex jerked awake from the dream…no, memory. He’d often had nightmares of the day he lost his hair, but he hadn’t thought of that little boy in years. Eventually, he had come to believe his mother, that he must have been dreaming and imagined the child. How odd that the Adonis should use the same word the boy had all those years ago. At least, he thought it was the same word. Perhaps the Indians had hit him in the head a few too many times before he’d passed out.

Lifting his head, he tried get a bearing on where he was and just how much trouble he was in. Truthfully, he was slightly astonished that he was waking up at all, having expected to be killed at any moment. He was lying on his side and there was only dirt beneath him, but looking up he saw a ceiling made of fabric coming to a point. There was a pole in the middle of the small space that held the fabric up.

Glancing around and finding he was alone, Alex started to sit up and was surprised to find that his hands were tied together in front of him. The bonds were not so tight as to be uncomfortable, but they held firm when he tested them. The other end of the leather strip was tied tightly to the pole, and no matter how Alex tugged at it, it wouldn’t come free. He even tried to gnaw at the wrapping around his wrists with his teeth, but had no luck.

Frustratingly, the tether didn’t have enough give to allow him to reach what he assumed was the door to this dwelling, a loose flap on the opposite side from where he’d awakened. He wondered if someone would be coming soon, because he was starting to get hungry and he also really needed to empty his bladder.

With nothing else to do, Alex lay back down, contemplating just what kind of torture they were planning for him, which wasn’t healthy, he knew, but he couldn’t seem to help it. He had almost started to drift off to sleep again, lying on his side facing the entrance, when the flap suddenly flew open and the Adonis stepped in.

Alex struggled to a sitting position again, hating that he couldn’t stand up to face the man who must be in charge of whatever was to become of him. It reminded Alex far too much of the many times he’d faced Lionel at such a disadvantage. The Adonis seemed even bigger now than he had earlier. His face held no expression for a moment as he studied his captive and then he stepped closer.

Wincing, Alex tried to back away, but there was literally no place for him to go. He wasn’t sure what he expected, slaps, punches, a kick, but all Adonis did was squat in front of him and take Alex’s face in his hands. He rubbed his thumbs gently over Alex’s brows, before sweeping them across his cheeks, then one hand glided over the smoothness of his bald head and curved around to cup the nape of his neck.

Alex could barely breathe, feeling spellbound by the intense scrutiny. He might have even been a bit turned on by it, until the inspection continued to the rest of his body. He yelped in shock as his shirt was abruptly ripped in two, the tatters being tossed aside carelessly, and then those giant hands were sliding over his chest and stomach.

He tried to pull away, but the Adonis simply switched one hand to holding him firmly by the arm, and continued to use the other to explore every inch of Alex’s skin. Still, he wasn’t finding it quite so bad, but he hoped that above the waist was as far as the Adonis was going to go.

Unfortunately, that was a vain hope, as seconds later, his bedraggled britches and undergarments followed the path of his shirt and Alex was completely naked. The accident had affected more than the hair on his head. While his scalp was utterly bald, he did have hair on his body, but it was soft and fine as a woman’s, something which his father had never failed to taunt him about. His lovers had never seemed to mind it though, and so he’d always mentally thumbed his nose at Lionel’s insults.

He wasn’t ashamed of his body, but he generally tried to prepare beforehand people who were going to see him naked of his condition, as he had run across a few narrow-minded Lionel clones who were repulsed. They were few and far between, though, and Alex had always enjoyed a very healthy sex life. He did like to be asked first and the Adonis’ liberties were beginning to annoy him.

Alex’s limit was reached when a warm hand curled around his half-hard cock and stroked gently but firmly. Enough was enough! He slapped at the hand with his bound ones and glared at his captor.

“I usually prefer to be asked before someone touches my cock,” he snarled.

Instead of a slap or a cuff to the head, he got a chuckle and a big grin. Adonis reached over and grabbed onto Alex’s tether near the pole with both hands, neatly snapping it in two. Alex gaped. Just how strong was this savage anyway? Adonis stood and pulled Alex to his feet and then, holding the binding in one hand like a leash, started to tug Alex towards the exit.

Alex would have been quite happy about getting some fresh air, except for the fact that he was still naked as the day he’d been born. Hedonist he might very well be, but he’d never particularly been an exhibitionist. He gave a shout of protest, and attempted to dig his heels into the ground, but it was like trying to hold back a train. After almost stumbling and falling flat on his face, Alex decided to go along with the Adonis willingly, figuring it was more dignified to be led than to be dragged.

He tried not to cringe as they stepped out into bright sunlight, extremely embarrassed about being on display, but other than a couple of looks, no one seemed to be paying them much attention. The Adonis strode confidently through the small encampment, which was made up of many structures like the one they’d just left.

The tent-like things were clustered around what seemed to be a central meeting area that was filled with other Indians, male and female, talking and working. Alex couldn’t tell what they were doing, but they seemed serious about their tasks, although he could see them laughing and smiling with one another. It was hard to believe that these same people had brutally murdered the stagecoach driver and Albert.

But Alex tried his best not to dwell on that, because it only made him nervous about his own future, and he truly didn’t have the energy to give to that worry right now. They walked for several minutes, and Alex dearly wished that he could ask where they were going, but he supposed it would do him no good, since the Adonis probably wouldn’t understand him.

He did take advantage of the opportunity to admire the sleek back muscles of his captor, and pondered whether, if the situation were vastly different, if he would have allowed the man’s earlier caresses to lead to something more. Grinning slightly to himself, he had to acknowledge that the answer was yes. The Adonis was very much his ‘type’. Tall, broad, and so handsome as to be almost pretty.

They stopped on the way to whatever their destination was to take a piss against the side of a giant tree. Alex blinked in confusion at first, trying to understand the man’s hand gestures, and finally getting it when Adonis just pulled out his own penis and started going. He was unaccustomed to personal hygiene out in the middle of the woods, but his bladder was about to burst, so…

Plus, it gave him the chance to get a peek at his captor’s cock and the brief glimpse he got did not leave him disappointed. Apparently the man was huge all over. To his irritation, Alex found himself blushing when Adonis gave him a knowing grin, and he pointedly turned his eyes away.

Their trek resumed and Alex gave a sigh, wondering how much further they had to go. Finally, he could stand the silence no longer. The way he figured it, he could say whatever he wanted without fear of reprisal, and that was a chance that just didn’t come along too often in Alex’s experience.

“You really are quite the handsome fellow, aren’t you?” he said to Adonis’ back.

At the sound of Alex’s voice, Adonis turned his head and looked at him, but just gave him another one of those grins before he turned back to face the way they were walking.

“If I wasn’t afraid that you’re going to kill me and probably, I don’t know, eat my heart or something, I might want to take you up on that offer you were making back there in the camp. Huh. I might ask you for it anyway. Kind of a last request, I suppose.”

Alex normally wasn’t one for mindless chatter, but then he usually had intelligent conversations and lovely music to listen to, not just this quiet interrupted every now and then by the sounds of birds and squirrels all around them. If he couldn’t have conversation with Adonis, he might as well talk to himself.

So, he spoke about the most inane things that came to mind; the last meal he’d had in New York, how much he hated his father, how very badly he was going to torture Victoria Hardwick if he ever got out of this mess that he was in.

He paused in his recitation about fifteen minutes later when he heard the sound of rushing water. _Oh, god, please don't let this be some ritual thing where I’m tossed over a waterfall!_ Trying to rein in his overactive imagination, Alex wasn’t paying attention when Adonis stopped, and ran right into his backside. Blushing again, to his extreme annoyance, Alex stepped back, ignoring the ever-present grin that Adonis gave him.

When he looked around the giant, Alex’s jaw dropped at the beautiful sight of a river, small rapids making the rushing noise he’d heard a few moments ago. The water looked clean, and oh, so inviting. He hoped that he was reading Adonis’ intentions right and that he was here to bathe – not to be drowned – and was pleased when the man led him to the edge of the water and motioned washing with his hands.

Alex held his bound hands up and gave Adonis a hopeful look.

“I promise I won’t attempt to escape. I think I want to be clean more than I want to be free at the moment,” he said.

Once again, Adonis snapped the binding as though it were flimsy string, and Alex looked at him in astonishment. How was that possible? Adonis urged him into the water, and Alex decided questions could wait, getting clean could not.

Alex stepped into the river, and despite the chilliness of it, immediately knelt down and started splashing the water over his body, shivering just a little when the water turned pinkish where he’d still had Albert’s blood on his face. He scrubbed the dirt and grime away, and couldn’t help but feel a little better. The bruises and black eye from the attack on the stagecoach were already much improved, but then Alex had always healed quickly.

He looked up to see Adonis squatting down on the shore, watching him curiously as he bathed. Alex smirked at the definite spark of interest he could see in those green eyes.

“You’re a bit of a voyeur, aren’t you? Not that I’m not used to it, being who I am. Alexander Luthor, favorite specimen in the New York zoo,” he said, only slightly bitterly.

He noticed that Adonis’ scrutiny suddenly became intense again as he scowled at Alex.

“What? Did you understand something I said?” Alex asked. “Oh. Oh, I’ll bet it was the name Luthor. You know that name, don’t you?”

The scowl deepened when Alex said his family name, letting him know that he was undoubtedly correct in his guess.

“Don’t worry, I hate my father just as much as you do, more probably. After all, he’s been tormenting me for twenty-seven years. He’s only been a pain in your ass for what? About twelve or so? I think that’s when he got on this big railroad kick, anyway.”

Adonis pointed at him and growled, “Luthor.”

It was very odd to hear a word that he understood coming out of that mouth. And yet again, Alex felt like he had to defend himself against his father’s sins. That had happened quite often back home.

“I’m not my father, you know. I didn’t want to come here and have anything to do with this railroad. For all I care, you and your people can prance around naked in the woods forever. In fact, I think I’d like to see you naked, that would be nice,” he said with a wicked grin.

“Luthor,” Adonis repeated adamantly.

Alex slapped his hand on his chest a couple of times and said loudly, “ _Alexander_ Luthor. Not my father! Alex!”

Adonis glowered at Alex for a few more seconds before throwing his head back and letting out a robust laugh. Alex’s eyes widened when he suddenly stripped off his buckskin breeches and waded into the water to settle nearby. He then went a little deeper into the river, dunked his head and came up with a grin, flipping his wet hair behind him.

Alex just stared in bemusement, his belly still thrumming with arousal at having gotten quite a good look at all of Adonis’ assets this time. How odd that he’d just wished that the Indian would get naked and then he did. Alex eyed the man suspiciously. Perhaps he understood more English than he was letting on?

“I’d love to fuck you right now,” Alex said, just to test.

But Adonis showed no reaction other than to grin at Alex again.

“Lex,” he said, pointing at Alex again.

“No, Alex,” he corrected.

“Lex,” Adonis insisted.

“Aaah-lex. Say it with me now…aaaaaaah-lex,” Alex exaggerated.

Adonis sank down a bit into the water, so that all Alex could see was his face, and his expression turned sultry, a sinful smile playing at the corners of his lips. His eyes, which were such a clear, true shade of green, seemed to darken to a smoky moss.

When he spoke again, his voice sent shivers down Alex’s spine. “Lex,” he said softly.

“Lex it is, then,” Alex said, his own voice a little shaky.

Adonis stood back up, the playful grin coming back to his features, and pointed to himself. “Kal,” he said. “Kal.”

“Your name is Kal?” A nod of the head. “Kal. Interesting name for an Indian, but it suits you, I suppose.”

Kal motioned for them to go back to shore and Alex happily complied, pleased to have another chance to peruse Kal’s body. The man didn’t cooperate overmuch this time, though, quickly pulling his pants back on. From somewhere – Alex had no idea from where or how it was possible – Kal produced another pair of buckskins for Alex and a pair of soft shoes for his feet. They fit reasonably well, although he had to roll the bottoms of the pants up a bit to keep from tripping over them, and he was very grateful that he wouldn’t have to walk through the encampment naked again.

He was very much dismayed, however, when Kal produced another piece of leather binding and quickly tied Alex’s hands together again. It was done so swiftly that it was accomplished before Alex had the chance to protest.

Of course, he still attempted to protest, but a warning glare from Kal made him hold his tongue. His captor had treated him fairly well so far, and Alex wasn’t sure how much longer that was going to last, but he didn’t plan on doing anything to antagonize Kal if he could help it.

The trip back felt shorter than the one going, although Alex was still glad to see the camp when it came into sight. He tried not to think on the irony of that too much, seeing as he was still a prisoner, but he was tired and ready to sleep some more. The sun was setting and he wondered how long it had been since he had been taken, whether the attack had taken place this morning, or if a day or two had passed.

Alex didn’t really think that he had been unconscious that long, but he wasn’t sure, and he had no way of asking Kal that question. When they arrived back at Kal’s dwelling, he tied Alex’s lead back to the pole. Alex gazed at him mutinously, but didn’t say anything. Kal left, and Alex wondered if he was to be alone again, but a few minutes later, he was back and he had food.

Alex’s mouth watered at the smell of the cooked meat. He didn’t even care what kind of animal it was; he would have eaten bugs at this point, he was so hungry. Kal had ripped the meat into bite-sized pieces for him so that he could eat with his bound hands, and he watched indulgently as Alex ate ravenously. When he was finished, Kal handed him a canteen fashioned out of animal skin that was filled with water.

Once Alex’s thirst was slaked, Kal signed to him that he should sleep, and Alex did not feel up to arguing with him. This time Kal provided him with a soft fur to lie on, and almost before his head hit the ground, Alex was deeply asleep.

~*~*~

Several days passed, and the routine was always the same. Every morning they walked to the river and bathed, sometime accompanied by others in the village, sometimes alone. Once back at the camp, Alex would sit tied to the pole while Kal worked.

Alex had decided that Kal must be the tribe’s answer to a weapons master, because he fashioned the hatchets that the warriors used. He would carefully use a special stone to grind away at the rock he used for the head of the hatchet, checking the sharpness and width often as he worked.

When he had deigned the weapon ready, he used twine to bind it tightly against a handle that he carved himself, wrapping it until nothing could jar it loose. Kal also made the arrows for the bows that the Indians used for hunting. The hatchets took longer and Alex was rather grateful that Kal mainly worked on the arrows, because the other weapon brought sickening memories to mind.

For the arrows, though, Kal used a special blade, the strangest looking weapon Alex had ever seen. It was a short knife, the metal a dulled gray, and the bulky pommel was flared at the top and bottom, almost like wings. There was a simplistic sketch of what appeared to be a stick figure of a man on the handle.

The one time Alex had reached out to touch the knife in curiosity, Kal had barked a harsh word at him and blocked his hand from getting too close. Alex had observed that no one else was allowed to touch this blade either, so he wasn’t too insulted. In fact, it very rarely left the sheath that Kal carried it in on his thigh.

Alex had yet to determine what the purpose behind his capture was. Kal didn’t make him do any work, and yet he never attempted to use him in any other way either, although Alex had half-hoped that he would. Unless they were somehow planning to ransom him to his father, which Alex found very unlikely, then the only thing he could surmise was that Kal wanted someone to watch him while he worked. It was frustrating trying to read the man when he couldn’t adequately communicate with him.

Oddly, Alex found himself not exactly enjoying his experience, but he did appreciate the peacefulness of it. All he had to do was follow Kal around, and that was certainly no hardship. There were no constant verbal battles with his father, no contemptuous judging looks from strangers. Everything simply was.

If Alex hadn’t seen first hand how violent these people could be, he would never have believed them capable of it. No one else attempted to speak or interact with him, which made him again wonder about Kal’s status in the tribe.

He definitely commanded the other warriors’ respect, but Kal wasn’t the chief, as Alex had seen a man that could be nothing but the leader of this group. The man had walked by, pausing to give Alex a measuring glance as he did so, but he didn’t stop for long. He and Kal had nodded at one another, trading a brief greeting. Alex could sense the mild subservience in Kal’s demeanor, and strangely, a fleeting grimace crossed his face almost as though he were in pain, but it passed quickly.

It had appeared to be more mutual respect than anything, though, and Kal was much younger than the supposed chief, so perhaps he was next in line for leadership? Maybe the chief was Kal’s father, although they did not seem to be very familial. Not that Alex himself had any clue what a normal father-son relationship was supposed to be like.

Because he needed to interact with someone somehow or go mad, Alex had fallen into the habit of talking to Kal. He realized it was fairly silly to spend so much time blabbing at someone who couldn’t understand a word you were saying, but it occupied his mind. It didn’t make any sense at all, but Kal was a good listener.

Alex told him things that he’d never told anyone else; memories of his mother, his first time having sex, his fears and doubts about ever living up to his father’s expectations, the nightmares he’d suffered after the accident. He even tossed in a few comments here and there about how attractive Kal was and various things he’d like to do to his body.

Kal, of course, didn’t respond other than to look up at Alex and smile every once in a while, but it was enough to keep him from going stir crazy. He figured that he had been here a couple of weeks, and Alex found himself surprisingly content. He wondered if his father was even looking for him or if Lionel had his son already dead and buried.

Alex mentioned just a bit wistfully to Kal one bright afternoon that he almost wished he could stay here forever. Although he did add that if he didn’t get laid soon, he feared he might explode. That was one of the points when Kal looked up from his tasks and gave Alex that smile, and it almost felt like Kal could understand what he was saying at those times.

Naturally, just when he’d begun to get accustomed to things the way they were, Kal decided to throw a huge cannon ball of change in Alex’s direction.

For some reason, Kal didn’t tie his hands that night when they lay down to go to sleep. He had stopped tying them during the day after the first week, but at night, Alex was still trussed up like a dog on a chain. Until tonight. Alex was awakened by soft whispering from the other side of the tent. Usually, he liked hearing the language of the Kawatche spoken; it was so lyrical that it was rather soothing. But right now, it was waking him from a pleasant dream and it was annoying.

He was half drifting between sleep and wakefulness, listening to Kal’s deep voice interspersed with someone’s lighter, softer tone…and there were giggles, which was really very vexing when one was trying to sleep. Alex thought about turning over and telling them to be quiet when a distinctive moan fluttered through the air, and he was suddenly wide awake.

His eyes snapped open and his entire body froze as he listened to the moans and sighs begin to increase. Alex’s jaw clenched in anger and irritation. Kal was having sex with someone who was not _him_! Alex was not normally much of a jealous person, never having been that attached to any of his lovers – which very much explained why he was still unmarried – but he was certainly feeling the pangs of envy now.

Well, if he couldn’t be the one having sex with Kal, Alex absolutely was not going to pass up the opportunity to at least see Kal having sex. As quietly as he could, Alex shifted onto his stomach and carefully turned his head towards the other side of the tent. His eyes widened and he barely managed to restrain a gasp.

Kal was lying on his back, one hand behind his head. The other hand was lazily caressing the breast of the woman straddled above him. Her hips were rolling back and forth over Kal’s hips, rising a little, then falling back down, soft little moans coming from her throat every time she moved. Every once in a while, Kal’s eyes fell closed and he let out a sigh.

Alex’s cock immediately went half-hard, and he had the thought that this might not have been such a good idea after all. Kal whispered something up to the girl, and Alex’s stomach clenched with desire at the tone of command in his voice. Oh, god, the things he could do with that man…

She giggled again and rose up completely, lifting herself off of him and allowing Kal’s fully hard cock to be visible to Alex’s view. The girl slid down to settle herself between his legs, and then proceeded to pleasure Kal with her mouth. Or she attempted to. Kal was quite large, and obviously the peoples native to the Americas were unfamiliar with the concept of deep throating. At least, this particular Kawatche female was.

“I could make that so much better for you, Kal,” Alex whispered. And then he realized he’d said that _out loud_.

Kal turned his head and pinned Alex with his stare, but funnily enough, he didn’t seem shocked that Alex was watching, or embarrassed for that matter. He looked down at the girl between his thighs and said something else to her. She raised up and pouted at him, whining what had to have been some sort of protest. Kal spoke again more firmly this time, and she got up huffily and pulled a dress that had been crumpled nearby over her head. She left, but not before sending Alex a resentful glare.

Kal just watched her go, and then turned his gaze back to Alex. He sat up, not bothering to cover himself. In fact, his hand dropped down to his cock and he slowly stroked it as he stared at Alex.

Nervously, Alex sat up as well and faced Kal. He wondered if he was about to be punished in some way for interrupting Kal’s tryst. Kal didn’t speak for several minutes, just stared Alex down with those intense eyes, still fondling himself. Alex considered apologizing, but that would be useless.

“So you can pleasure me better than she could?” Kal said casually.

“Of course I could-” Alex started and then his brain caught up to his ears and he gaped at Kal open-mouthed. “You…you speak English! You bastard!”

Kal’s grin this time was positively evil. “Yes, I do, Lex, and your conversations have been very stimulating.”

Alex cringed in mortification as his mind rapidly recalled all the many humiliating things he’d said to Kal over the last couple of weeks. Slowly, the embarrassment gave way to anger as he stared at the smug man sitting across from him.

“You…how could you do that? You lied to me! Let me think you didn’t understand anything I was saying, and I told you…god, I told you things I’d never tell anyone!”

“I had to be sure that I could trust you. And believe me when I say that I would never betray anything you told me in confidence, Lex.”

Alex’s hands squeezed into tight fists and his whole body practically vibrated with the strength of his fury. “So why now? You just suddenly decided that I could be trusted?”

“You told me yesterday that you wished you could stay here forever. That’s when I knew it was time to tell you the first truth.”

“First truth? What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that I have many things to tell you, Lex. But I cannot tell you all of them now. You will have to be patient.”

“Oh, I think my patience ran out about the same time you starting spouting off like an English professor, _Kal_. Is that even your real name? And just how do you speak such perfect English anyway?” Alex demanded. “Or are those answers some of the truths I’m supposedly not ready for yet,” he added with a sneer.

“No, I can tell you that. The Kawatche call me Star Child, but my true name is Kal. And I speak English so well because the Kawatche are not my first family. When I first came to Kansas, I lived with a farmer and his wife. In my tenth summer, the Kawatche attacked their farm and killed them. Instead of killing me, they took me with them to raise as one of their own, and I have been with them ever since.”

Alex stared at Kal silently, some of his anger leeching away at the story, even though he sensed that he wasn’t hearing the entire tale. He had about a million questions but he also had the sense that Kal wasn’t going to answer too many of them at the moment.

“Your eyes. It always confused me that they were so green, but I just assumed you had white blood somewhere in your ancestry. So you’re not Indian at all?”

“No, I am definitely not Indian,” Kal said, and he gave a mysterious little smile as he said it.

The air of ‘I know something you don’t and I’m just not going to tell you right now’ that Kal was projecting was starting to get extremely annoying.

“So what happens now?” Alex asked.

“I believe you made a boast that you need to prove,” Kal said, with a hint of challenge in his tone.

“You can’t be serious. If I get within an inch of you right now, I’m going to hit you in the face, not suck your cock,” Alex said in disbelief.

“That would not be a wise idea, Lex,” Kal said.

“I’m sure you don’t think so, as you’d be the one getting hit, but it would certainly make me feel a lot better,” Alex said sullenly.

There was an abrupt whoosh of air in the small space and all of a sudden Kal was right there in front of him, leaning in so close that Alex could see the tiny flecks of gold in his green eyes. Alex’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. He hadn’t even seen Kal move!

“How the hell did you-”

“It would not be wise for you to strike me, Lex, because you would only hurt yourself. I mean that literally. I have much to explain to you, but now is not the time,” Kal said, his voice low and intense.

Alex was having a difficult time thinking straight when the object of his lust for the past two weeks was practically on top of him, and naked to boot.

“When will be the time?” Alex whispered.

Kal smiled at him, a brilliant wide grin that made Alex’s heart rate increase.

“You will know when it is time. We have a destiny together, Alexander Luthor. And nothing is going to stand in the way of it.”

“Destiny,” Alex repeated, and although he should be afraid, he should think that Kal was insane, the word felt right, like it was meant to be.

“As for now…I have been with a woman many times, Lex, but I have never lain with a man. I am very interested in how this can be done. Will you show me?” Kal asked, and his eyes were doing that smoky thing that drove Alex insane.

“Yes,” Alex said shakily, surrendering to forces greater than himself without a second thought.

Kal’s gaze dropped to Alex’s mouth for an instant before he slowly leaned forward and pressed his lips against Alex’s own. A gasp shimmered between them and Alex couldn’t tell for sure if it came from himself or from Kal. A few seconds later, it didn’t matter as their mouths clashed harder, hungrier, opening to taste each other with tongues. Alex’s hands slid up to clutch at the back of Kal’s head, tangling in his long, dark hair.

With an impatient grunt, Kal sat back and pulled Alex fully onto his lap, his arms wrapping around Alex’s back, reassuring in their strength. A helpless little whimper escaping his lips, Alex wound his legs around Kal’s waist and pushed his hips forward, grinding his erection against Kal’s. Before he quite knew how it had happened, Alex was naked, too, and Kal was pressing him down onto the soft furs that made up his bed.

The rest of the night was spent exploring bodies, touching, kissing and caressing every inch of each other they could reach. Kal was an amazing lover; giving, passionate, very vocal, and he was seemingly tireless. Alex saw more evidence of that uncanny strength as Kal lifted and moved and shifted his lover around as though he were a feather, but Alex didn’t have the energy or the inclination to wonder about it.

At the moment when Kal was buried inside him, pushing deeper than any lover he’d ever had before, Alex realized a blinding truth. Their eyes were locked together just as intensely as their bodies were, and Kal’s eyes almost had a reddish glow to them. That was when Alex knew and acknowledged the inescapable fact that _this_ was his future. This man and everything he was, even those things which Alex did not yet know, were more important to Alex than his own life.

“I love you,” he whispered, and knew they were the truest words he’d ever spoken.

“ _Yes_!” Kal hissed triumphantly. His hand reached in between their bodies, curving around Alex’s cock, stroking hard and fast, and the two of them climaxed at almost the same time, shuddering and crying out in amazement.

Afterwards, Kal cupped Alex’s face with his hands, much as he’d done that first day, and rested his forehead against his lover’s. “I love you, too, Lex. You are mine and I will never let anyone hurt you or take you away ever again,” he promised.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

**Part Three**

The next month might have been the happiest Alex had ever been in his life. No, there was no ‘might’ about it…it _was_ the happiest he’d ever been. Simply the fact that he and Kal had been lovers for a month and Alex wasn’t bored yet was something he’d never experienced before. Every night with Kal was like a new and wondrous beginning and Alex couldn’t envision ever being without him again.

It wasn’t completely perfect, as Kal was still a little too reticent for Alex’s taste about all those things he was supposed to reveal ‘in time’, but he could be patient. Or at least he could pretend to be patient. Alex had never been with a partner who was so dominant before and it was a struggle not to let himself get completely swept under by the force of Kal’s personality. They had a few heated arguments about many aspects of their new relationship, but if this was their destiny as Kal had proclaimed, Alex was determined that he’d have as much say in it as Kal did.

Kal revealed pieces of himself a little at a time, showing incredible strength and speed, and no matter how hard he tried, Alex could not make a lasting mark on his skin. Alex wondered how his lover had come to possess such astounding abilities. They were certainly beyond anything Alex had ever heard of before, and he pondered if perhaps Kal wasn’t a god come straight from the mountains of Olympus. He didn’t truly believe that, of course, but he knew there was more to Kal than he was telling so far, and Alex very much wanted to know the rest of the story.

He also told Alex about his life with the farmers that he’d lived with before the Kawatche had taken him. Their names were Jonathan and Martha Kent and they had called him Clark while he was living with them. Alex asked him why he called himself Kal if that was the case, but apparently that was another thing that wasn’t to be shared with him yet.

Alex had the feeling that the Kents had not been his first family either, as he did not refer to them as mother or father, instead calling them by their first names. But again, that was one of the subjects that Kal dodged when Alex asked about it. He hoped that full disclosure would be coming soon, because for the last couple of days, Alex had been feeling unaccountably anxious, as though something were on the horizon. And whatever it was, was not good.

Kal had endeavored to begin teaching Alex the Kawatche language and he was picking it up relatively well. He could have simple conversations with the others in the tribe, and naturally, he used this to try and find out more about Kal from someone else. Frustratingly, no one would tell him anything about Star Child except that he was a much revered member of the tribe. It was strange, though; sometimes Alex got the impression that they almost feared him as much as they loved him.

Whether it was fear or love that held their tongues, the rest of the Indians accepted Alex’s place as Kal’s…whatever he was in their eyes…without comment or protest. For all that they protected their lands with ferocious violence, the Kawatche seemed overall a peaceful people, and discord among them was very rare. Which was why Alex was so surprised one morning when an uneasy rumbling ran through the crowd gathered in the center of the village.

Following the gazes of several people, he saw Kal in a heated argument with another warrior. Alex recognized him as the same man that Kal had overruled on the day of the stagecoach attack, whose name he had learned was Gray Deer. Alex had noted that there was a constant low level of animosity and competition between Star Child and Gray Deer, and more often than not, Kal ended up having the upper hand.

The chief, called Great Father by everyone in the tribe, was watching the disagreement silently. From what Alex could tell, he was the arbitrator of the dispute, because Gray Deer was gesturing towards Kal while appealing to the elder. Alex wished he was close enough to hear what was being said, although he might not have been able to follow it, as limited as his Kawatche was as of yet.

When the three of them turned to look straight at Alex, that bad feeling that he had been suffering the last couple of days spiked, making his insides twist with agitation. Finally, Great Father spoke, pulling the attention of the two squabbling warriors back to him. When he was finished, he turned away, heading back towards his own teepee. Unfortunately, it appeared that this was not one of the times that Kal had prevailed because he had a set, grim look on his face as he stalked over towards Alex, and Gray Deer was definitely looking smug behind Kal’s back.

“Kal? What was all that-” Alex started to ask.

“Inside, please, Lex, and we will discuss it there,” Kal said, cutting him off.

Alex wasn’t sure if he had ever seen Kal this unsettled before. It was making him very nervous, but he got up and followed Kal back to their teepee. Once inside, they sat on the floor, facing one another. Kal huffed out a sigh of irritation, before he looked at Alex with his usual intense gaze.

“Gray Deer has challenged me.”

“What does that mean?” Alex asked when Kal said nothing more.

“It means he wants something that I have, and I have denied it. It means that we will be required to confront each other to see which of us will get to have what we both want.”

“What is it that he wants?”

“You,” Kal said simply.

Alex’s heart leapt into his throat. He felt the need to reassure Kal that no one else could ever take his place in Alex’s heart. “I’ve never done anything to encourage him, I swear that to you, Kal.”

Kal gave a harsh laugh. “He does not want you like that, Lex. He wants to kill you.”

Now Alex felt the stirrings of real fear for the first time in weeks. “What?” he asked, his face going pale.

“He will not be allowed the chance to even come near you, Lex. You are mine and I have sworn to protect you. This, I will do,” Kal vowed seriously.

“But why does he want to kill me? I haven’t done anything to offend him, have I?” Alex asked in confusion. Sometimes the particular customs of the Kawatche still eluded him, and he feared that he had brought this down on Kal’s head by accident somehow.

Kal sighed. “It has nothing to do with you personally. Gray Deer and I have fought against one another from childhood. I was brought into the Kawatche tribe at ten summers old. At the time, Gray Deer was only eight. He is Great Father’s son by blood, but I am Great Father’s son in spirit, and I am the one that he has chosen to lead the tribe when he is gone. Gray Deer cannot accept this, and has always tried to bring me down in Great Father’s eyes, so that he can be the future leader of the tribe.”

“Still, how does killing me bring you down in Great Father’s eyes?”

“Our crops were smaller than usual this year. Game in the forest is not as plentiful the last couple of months. Gray Deer blames this on you for bringing bad spirits to haunt the tribe, and thus on me because I prevented him from killing you when we pulled you out of the stagecoach.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Alex scoffed.

Kal shrugged one shoulder carelessly. “It is what he believes.”

Then Alex worried that he had offended Kal with his words, while at the same time he felt a little hurt if that was what Kal thought. “Is that what you believe?”

Kal smiled at him tenderly. “Lex, you could never bring bad spirits. You are everything that is good in this world.”

Alex found himself blushing at Kal’s words. The compliment would have sounded absurd coming from anyone else, but from Kal, it was quietly sincere, and meant more to Alex than he would have ever thought possible. In gratitude, Alex leaned forward and kissed Kal, which quickly led to other things and they were distracted for quite a while.

Afterwards, they lay quietly on the furs together, Kal on his back, Alex on his side to Kal’s left. Alex was curled up as close to Kal as he could get without lying on top of him, and he had his leg nestled in between Kal’s knees. He reached up to pull a section of hair away from Kal’s face and absently began to braid it, a skill he’d asked one of the tribeswomen to teach him when he’d seen her doing her own hair. As they were both fairly relaxed, Alex felt safe in bringing up the issue of the challenge again.

“What exactly will this challenge entail?” he asked quietly.

“A fight, with weapons. We battle until one man can no longer continue.”

“To the death, then?” Alex asked.

“Not always. Sometimes the victor will have mercy and allow the other man to simply yield.” He glanced over at Alex and gave him a teasing smile. “Are you worried about me?”

“Of course not. I anticipate Gray Deer’s thorough ass-kicking, courtesy of you,” Alex said flippantly.

“I am allowed to hit him in other places besides his ass, right? Because I think that kind of limits me,” Kal said, his grin widening.

Alex whapped Kal in the face with the braid he was working on, and then they were both laughing too hard to worry about anything for a while.

~*~*~

The days leading up to the challenge were slightly more stressful than the ones before it had been issued, and Alex tried to relax as he knew logically that there was no way Gray Deer could hope to best Kal. He had seen Kal punch through a boulder once when they were down at the river. Gray Deer had never demonstrated any enhanced strength, so how could he possibly hope to stand up to Star Child?

Which is what worried Alex. The Kawatche were very much aware that their Star Child was different from them. Although Alex suspected he held back from showing his full potential, he had never been shy about using his strength or speed around them. Kal was, in fact, considered one of the primary protectors of the tribe for that reason. Gray Deer must know that there was no way for him to win, so why had he put forth the challenge?

The only thing Alex could conjecture was that perhaps Gray Deer did not realize how impenetrable Kal’s skin was. If that was the case, Alex feared that the jealous warrior had some plan in mind to cheat, even though Alex couldn’t figure out how he intended to do so. To Alex’s dismay, when he tried to bring these concerns up with Kal, he was told quite firmly to stay out of the matter.

So Alex kept his mouth shut, but he also kept his eye on Gray Deer, as unobtrusively as he could, watching to see if any foul play was brewing. To his frustration, the man did nothing out of the ordinary, or at least nothing that Alex had been able to catch him at.

A challenge such as this one was a serious affair among the Kawatche and when the appointed night arrived, every man, woman, and child in the village was present for it. The battle was to take place in a sacred clearing, about half a mile into the forest from the village itself. There were torches placed around the fighting ground to provide light, since tradition demanded that the fight take place under a full moon.

The other tribe members sat in a loose circle around an area large enough for the two men to clash. Alex, as the prize in the challenge, had been placed right beside Great Father. He had been so worried about Kal that Alex had almost forgotten if Gray Deer won this challenge, his own life was also forfeit.

The two men faced each other, dressed only in loincloths. Kal had his unique blade, and Gray Deer had chosen to use a hatchet. Alex thought it would be extremely ironic if Kal were to be killed by a weapon he had probably crafted himself. He shook his head, trying to clear it of such negative thoughts.

Great Father shouted a command and the battle began. The two combatants circled one another warily at first. Alex wondered what the hell Kal was waiting for. Why didn’t he just step up and take that hatchet out of Gray Deer’s hand before he knew what was happening? That was when he noticed that Kal was not acting like himself. He was sweating, his face held tight as though he was trying to hold back a grimace of pain, and had he just stumbled?!

Alex had been in this village for nearly two months and he’d never even seen Kal stub a toe, much less nearly fall. He was incredibly graceful for a man of his stature. Alex tensed, every instinct in him screaming to jump up and get his lover the hell out of there. Great Father must have sensed his distress, because he laid a hand on Alex’s arm and said something. He was so anxious he didn’t quite get the exact translation, but Alex got the intent: don’t interfere.

Now the warriors were starting to truly fight, each taking experimental swings with their weapon to feel out his opponent. Kal was only barely dodging Gray Deer’s blows, which just didn’t make sense. Then there was a strike in which Kal didn’t move quite fast enough, and Gray Deer’s hatchet scraped across his stomach. Alex, and every other person in the village, gasped in shock as Kal’s blood seeped from the wound.

How was this possible? Alex saw the look of surprise on Kal’s face and realized that even he didn’t quite understand what was going on. Gray Deer began to speak, and Alex grasped just enough of it to hear that he was taunting Kal, calling him unworthy of the Kawatche people and proclaiming himself their new protector. When he glanced over at Alex, and his smile turned vicious, he said something about how he was going to enjoy killing Star Child’s whore.

At that threat, Kal’s expression turned murderous, and he suddenly charged Gray Deer, taking the other man by surprise and plowing the both of them into the ground. Somehow, they’d both lost their weapons, but Kal was still handicapped in some unknown way. Gray Deer took advantage of the chance to beat Star Child with his bare fists. Seeing the sheer pleasure he got out of it, Alex thought it must have been something that he’d dreamed of for a long time.

Alex was about to explode with fear and rage. He was watching his lover being beaten to death right in front of him. Damn the consequences of what the onlookers would do to him, Alex was two seconds from leaping to his feet and ripping that bastard’s head off his shoulders. He had half-risen to his feet when he noticed something odd. Gray Deer was wearing an amulet with a green stone around his neck, where he’d never worn ornamentation before. If it was a ceremonial thing, wouldn’t Kal have one as well?

What really caught his attention, however, was the way the faintly glowing amulet was hanging from Gray Deer’s neck as he kneeled over Kal. It swung back and forth with its wearer’s movements and every time it came closer to Kal, the glow intensified. Suddenly, it clicked in Alex’s mind and he realized where he’d seen the necklace before. It belonged to Great Father, and Alex had seen the way Kal flinched whenever Great Father came too close.

The amulet was the thing that was making Kal weak, and the closer it was to him, the worse the effects were. Alex had to do something, or Kal was going to die. But he couldn’t interfere directly or they might both die through the wrath of the tribe.

There were mutterings growing ever louder from the crowd, who were stunned that their invincible one was being defeated. Alex hoped that Kal would be able to hear him, just as he also hoped that most of the Kawatche didn’t understand English very well.

“Kal!” he shouted. His call went unheard by the tribe, but unfortunately, Kal didn’t hear it either. “KAL!” he shouted a little louder.

Gray Deer had started to choke Star Child at this point, obviously wanting to end his rival’s life with his own hands, but Alex thought that Kal’s head turned slightly towards his voice.

“The necklace, Kal! Get the necklace off him! Get it away from you!”

Kal’s hands were desperately trying to pry Gray Deer’s fingers from around his neck, and at first, Alex didn’t think he had heard his plea. But then, one hand slowly crept up Gray Deer’s arm towards his neck. Gray Deer was so intoxicated with the realization that he was about to destroy his enemy that he had neither heard Alex’s warning nor did he realize what Kal was attempting.

With a frightful roar, Kal ripped the amulet from around Gray Deer’s neck and threw it several feet away. At the same time, obviously feeling a rush of renewed strength, in one move he flipped a shocked Gray Deer off of him and rolled over to take the dominant position above him. Somehow, he’d come up with his blade at the same time and it was quickly pressed against Gray Deer’s throat.

Kal’s eyes were blazing, and his jaw was clenched tightly as he growled a sharp order in Kawatche to his adversary. Alex recognized the command to yield and held his breath, hoping that Kal would be able to hold him long enough, because the amulet was still too close for his comfort.

Kal shouted the demand to yield again, pushing the blade a little deeper into Gray Deer’s throat, and finally the defeated warrior gasped out a surrender. Kal’s body relaxed but as he straightened slightly over Gray Deer’s supine form, Alex thought he still looked like he was about to collapse.

Great Father stepped forward and declared the challenge over, proclaiming Star Child the victor, and granting him the prize…which Alex was a little abashed to remember was himself. Not caring anymore what the rest of the tribe thought, Alex rushed forward to help Kal to his feet before he fell over. He wrapped an arm around Kal’s waist, doing his best to support him, not an easy task since he probably outweighed Alex by at least fifty pounds.

They had only taken half a dozen steps, and Alex was softly murmuring to Kal that he was going to take care of him, when an agonized shriek had them jerking back around in surprise. They stared in shock as they saw that Gray Deer was staggering away from them, his hatchet still clutched in his hand, and there was an arrow in his shoulder. He was staring at the bow in Great Father’s hands in disbelief.

Alex was appalled as he understood what Gray Deer had done. Great Father then condemned his son as a coward and a disgrace for not respecting the outcome of the challenge and attempting to exact his revenge against Kal. Gray Deer tried to protest, but everyone had seen it and there was no way he could deny his actions. Great Father sadly pronounced punishment on Gray Deer by banishing him from the tribe and ordered him never to return.

Gray Deer stared at his father, devastated by what he’d just said, and then he looked at Kal and Alex with such fierce anger in his eyes that Alex imagined he could almost feel the heat of his hatred. Kal stared back at him impassively, before turning to leave the battleground, pulling Alex gently along with him.

The further they got away from the field – and the necklace – the more Kal seemed to improve. By the time they’d reached their teepee, he was walking much easier, and some of the cuts and bruises had begun to heal. Alex insisted on pampering him a bit anyway, and made Kal lie down while he cleaned some of the blood off of him.

Kal seemed distracted as Alex washed him, and then he suddenly said, “Gray Deer is a fool.”

“Yes, well, we knew that when he challenged you to a fight, didn’t we? Do you think he knew the effect the necklace had on you?”

“Yes, I believe he must have known somehow. That is why he was so confident, but that is not why he is a fool.”

“Enlighten me,” Alex murmured as he trailed the cloth across Kal’s stomach.

“He had gained the tribe’s respect, even if he did not win the challenge, by almost defeating me. No one has ever come so close to killing me, Lex. Ever. And then he threw it all away because he could not handle the fact that I defeated him despite his underhanded ways.”

“Why did you even go into that battle when you saw him wearing the necklace?” Alex asked, a little bewildered.

“I could not suddenly refuse the challenge. Besides, I had no idea the necklace had that affect on me. I was as confused as everyone else until I heard your call to me.”

Alex dropped the cloth he was using to wipe Kal’s wounds in astonishment. “How could you not know that? I’ve seen you cringe around Great Father, and I never understood why, but I thought _you_ knew.”

“I never connected the two. I have never told you about the day the Kawatche took me from the Kent farm, have I?”

Alex shook his head no, and Kal continued.

“The reason they did not kill me is because they were unable to. They tried shooting me with arrows, bashing my skull, stabbing me, beating me…none of it worked, and they were suddenly frightened that I was some sort of demon.”

“You must have been terrified,” Alex said, feeling sympathy for that ten year old boy.

“I was. I had just seen the only parents I had ever known on earth killed, and now their murderers were trying to kill me. And even though their attempts did not succeed, they were still incredibly painful. My abilities have increased as I’ve gotten older, and at ten, my skin was not as tough as it is now. I carried scars from that day for several years, but they eventually faded.”

“So what happened then?”

“The warriors in charge of the raid took me back to their camp, to ask Great Father what they should do with me. The moment that he stepped close to me, I collapsed into a heap at his feet. They took it to mean that I was acknowledging his superiority over me. I have never been sure what Great Father himself was thinking, but when I looked up at him, he must have seen something in my gaze, because he declared me a member of the tribe. By my sixteenth summer, he had announced me as his successor for chief.”

“How did you not realize later on that it was the necklace that caused you to collapse?”

“He wore it all the time. He was the only person who made me feel that pain, so for a long time I believed what they told me about him being some sort of demi-god. I was only ten, remember. Anyway, I suppose once I became older and realized that he was just a normal man, I could have run away, but I had nowhere to go, and I decided that living with the Kawatche was better than being on my own, so I stayed,” Kal said with a shrug.

“But you still didn’t connect a glowing green necklace to your bouts of flopping and flailing all over the place. Not the most observant guy in the world, are you?” Alex teased.

Kal gave him a gentle push before responding. “I saw you and decided to save your life, did I not?”

Alex leaned over and kissed his hero softly. “Yeah, you did. Still not sure exactly why you did decide to do that, but trust me, I’m very grateful.”

Kal’s expression went utterly serious, startling Alex. He startled Alex further when he suddenly leapt to his feet and grabbed his lover by the hand, pulling him towards the door of the teepee.

“Come with me!” Kal said urgently.

“Whoa, hold on! I know you’re tough, but you were just in a battle for your life. Don’t you think you need to rest?” Alex protested, trying to resist Kal’s yanking on him, and having about as much success as he had that first day.

Kal turned to grip him by the shoulders and gave one of those blinding grins. “I think it’s time for you to know the truth, Lex.”

Well, hell.

How was he supposed to refuse that?

~*~*~

Kal led him unerringly through the woods, almost as though he could see in the dark. With everything Alex had learned about Kal, he wondered it that wasn’t exactly what he was doing. Alex had thought they were heading towards the river, but he quickly realized that they were going in an entirely different direction.

“Tell me about the day you lost your hair, Lex,” Kal asked suddenly, taking Alex by surprise.

Alex stumbled in the dark, grateful when Kal’s hand was there to steady him. “Why do you want to know about that?” he asked. Alex did not like thinking about that day.

“Please. It is important,” Kal insisted.

Seeing as he was on his way to being told the truths he’d wanted for a long time from Kal, Alex didn’t see how he could refuse the request. Starting a bit haltingly, he explained to Kal how he had been on a trip with his mother. He had been nine years old and so excited to be traveling with her without his father. Even at that age, Alex and his father had not gotten along.

Lillian Luthor had family in Wichita and they had spent the summer with them before Alex had to go back to school in New York. Alex had loved that summer with his mother’s family so much. They’d ridden horses, hunted rabbits, explored rivers and forests…it had been the most wonderful time of his life, and sometimes remembering that was the only thing that had gotten him through the horror of what had happened on their way back home.

The stagecoach had stopped at a tiny settlement called Smallville to stock up for the last part of the trip to Kansas City. Alex had wandered, following a squirrel he’d been trying to tempt to his hand with a few sunflower seeds. And then the sky started to fall. It was such complete devastation, that in the aftermath the settlement of Smallville was utterly destroyed and never rebuilt.

Alex’s voice grew flat as he related the story of the burning rocks falling all around him, but for some reason, with his hand firmly held in Kal’s, the usual pain of the memory eased a little. He hesitated when he got to the part where he remembered the young boy, wondering if Kal would be understanding if he said that the boy reminded Alex of him.

“You can tell me,” Kal urged softly, and Alex wondered if mind-reading wasn’t one of his abilities as well.

“There was a little boy nearby when I woke up. He said something to me…” Alex trailed off, unsure. “My mother said that I must have imagined him because he disappeared and I never saw him again.”

Kal halted their walking and turned to face Alex, cupping his hands around Alex’s face as he was so fond of doing. He smiled that smile that Alex had begun to think of as his own special Kal expression.

“Yes, you did, Lex. That little boy was me, and that is why I saved you that day by the stagecoach. As soon as I saw you clearly, I knew who you were. And I knew that I was meant to save you. I often dreamt of you and I knew that we would someday meet again,” Kal said.

Alex was stunned, shocked into silence, and yet he felt the truth of Kal’s words. Had he not sensed their connection from the very moment Kal had touched his face that day?

“Are you all right, love?” Kal asked with a tender smile. Alex managed to nod.

“I just…it’s so fantastic, I can barely wrap my head around it…” he half-stammered. “That word you said, mish…” Alex asked, stumbling over the pronunciation.

“Mishidhal,” Kal said.

“Yes, that. It’s not a Kawatche word, is it? What does it mean?”

“That is what I am about to show you,” Kal grinned. “Do you trust me, Lex?”

“You know that I do,” Alex said.

Kal stepped forward and lifted Alex off his feet, holding him around the waist. “Then hold on to me.”

Alex wrapped his arms around Kal’s neck and Kal shifted him slightly to the side. He grinned at Alex briefly before he started to run. Alex’s breath left his body in a whoosh of awe and amazement as the world around them blurred into simple stripes of color and shadows. It felt like flying and Alex couldn’t restrain a laugh at the sheer insanity and joy of it.

Less than a minute later, Kal stopped and set him back on the ground, but kept holding on because he seemed to know that Alex would be a bit unsteady on his feet. Alex found himself gasping for breath and he looked up at Kal.

“Oh, my god. That was…that was the most incredible…I can’t even…how do you keep yourself from just doing that _all the time_?”

Kal laughed. “I do it a lot more than you know. Sometimes I slip away for a few minutes and just run because I can.”

“Wow,” Alex breathed and then he glanced around to see where Kal had brought him. “Where are we?”

“A special place. Come, and I will show you.”

He turned and led Alex to the entrance to a cave just a few feet away. Alex had been so enthralled with the trip here that he hadn’t noticed it at first. They stepped inside, Kal once again having no trouble navigating their way in the dark. Suddenly, a bright light began to glow from one of the walls and Alex shrank back a bit, apprehensive in spite of himself.

Kal sent him a reassuring smile, and then walked towards the light. Alex watched as he tapped on a spot on the adjacent wall, and gaped when a small hole opened up there. Kal reached in and pulled out a small piece of metal, shaped like an octagon. He then placed the metal piece into a matching depression where the wall was glowing.

He took a step backwards and then spoke in a loud voice at the wall. Only, he wasn’t speaking English or Kawatche. Alex suddenly remembered the language Kal had spoken when they’d met the first time and wondered if this was the same one.

Alex nearly fainted with fright when the wall answered. “Kal-El,” it boomed, the only sound Alex recognized and then there was a babble of the same language that Kal had used.

“May we use English, Father? Lex cannot understand what we are saying,” Kal said.

“That would be acceptable,” the cave wall intoned.

Kal turned to face his lover, gave him an encouraging smile. Alex was glad someone was able to be so happy, because he was having a goddamn heart attack.

“I know this is a lot for you to try and accept, Lex, but please believe me when I say that you are safe. I meant what I said about protecting you.”

Alex nodded numbly. He knew that, he did, and any minute now, he was going to get his voice back so he could tell Kal that he knew that. Finally, he managed to get his brain and his mouth working together again.

“F-father? You called him father?” he asked.

“Yes, Lex. This is Jor-El of Krypton. He is my first father.”

“Your father is a cave wall?”

Kal smiled at Alex’s words. “No, Jor-El is no longer living. This is sort of like his spirit, a memory of him.”

“I…see,” Alex said, even though he really, really didn’t.

“Lex, you know all the things I am able to do? Things that no other human on earth is capable of?”

Alex nodded, his voice seeming to have deserted him once again.

“That is because I…I am not human, nor am I from earth,” Kal said softly and he stared hard into Alex’s eyes.

For the first time, Alex saw fear in Kal’s face. Fear that Alex would not be able to handle this, that he would reject Kal. Alex had always been an open-minded man, but this… This was almost too incredible for his mind to process. Alex’s brain began to whirl with the realization that Kal was alien to this planet, like those fantasy stories that Alex had read as a child, and he had powers, and he was an alien.

And then he looked again and saw the man who’d been his lover for the last two months, the man who’d made him feel more emotion, more joy, than any other person in his life. This was his Kal, who loved him, and had sworn to always protect him.

He could see the light dimming from Kal’s eyes the longer Alex stood not moving, just staring at him. Decision made, Alex stepped up to Kal and reached up to trace his fingers along the side of Kal’s face just the way Kal had so often done to him.

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you’re mine, and I love you,” Alex said.

Kal’s whole body relaxed and he swept Alex up into a bone-crushing hug, followed by a deep kiss, and then more squeezing and hugging. Kal was laughing and telling Alex he loved him, and Alex could practically hear the relief flowing in his voice.

“Need to breathe here, Kal,” Alex gasped.

Guiltily, but still grinning like a loon, Kal set Alex back down on his feet, but kept hold of his shoulders as though he couldn’t bear to stop touching him. Alex liked that; he liked it a lot.

“So, my Son, you have chosen a mate. This is good, for you will need a companion by your side during your life on this planet.”

“Yes, Father. This is Alexander Luthor, and he is…” Kal stared at Alex with his every emotion shining in his eyes, and Alex had never seen him quite this open before. “He is everything.”

“As you are to me, Kal,” Alex said.

“This is what mishidhal means, Lex. Soul mates.”

“Yes,” Alex agreed, and he was suddenly eager to know more, to know everything. “Tell me more about your planet.”

“It would be easier to show you, Alexander Luthor,” Jor-El’s voice interrupted.

They both turned to look at the glowing lights where Jor-El’s memory resided. “Show me how?” Alex asked.

A brightly colored beam of energy shot out of the metal piece Kal had placed into the wall, and completely enveloped Alex. Gasping aloud as a multitude of images began flashing through his head, Alex suddenly knew _everything_. He saw the beauty that the planet Krypton once was. He watched as Jor-El pleaded with the council to believe him about their world’s imminent destruction, only to see his warnings go unheeded. He grieved and hoped along with them as Jor-El and Lara placed infant Kal-El into a tiny space pod to send him across the stars so that their son might live.

Alex fell to his knees with a shudder as the beam left him, and for a moment, he couldn’t speak. His brain felt stuffed full of all that he had seen and learned, and he breathed harshly as he tried to process it.

“Father, you could have given him a little warning!” Kal was shouting at the wall, a bit angrily.

Alex laughed softly, touched at Kal’s concern for him.

“I’m fine, Kal, it was just a bit startling, that’s all.”

Kal jerked his gaze to him in surprise. “Did you understand what I said?”

“Yes?” Alex said, wondering why Kal seemed so shocked.

“I was speaking Kryptonian,” Kal said, his eyes wide. “And now that I think of it, so are you!”

“Wow,” Alex replied. “I guess he gave me more than a history lesson then.”

They spent another couple of hours in the cave, while Kal answered every question Alex could think to ask. It was information overload, but Alex was more ecstatic than he’d ever been in his life. At least one hour of that was devoted to examining Kal’s spaceship, which was hidden in the caves.

Kal remembered very little about his time before the Kents, although he did always know that he was not from earth. Alex felt very honored when Kal told him that he had never revealed this information to anyone, not even the farmers who’d taken him in.

Jonathan and Martha Kent had found a young Kal-El wandering near their small homestead, and had immediately taken him in, figuring that he’d lost his parents in that odd storm that had so devastated Smallville. Their farm was closer to Granville, and so was spared any damage. Alex and Kal realized that the Kents must have found him literally hours after the two of them had their encounter in the field.

Once Star Child, as Great Father had named him, settled in with the Kawatche, he had given little thought to the way he’d arrived on the planet…until four years ago when he’d turned eighteen. He began to have odd dreams, of a man that looked like him, but that he somehow sensed wasn’t himself. The thing that puzzled young Star Child more was the nearly overwhelming need to go and look for something that had been lost to him.

One night, Star Child could stand it no longer, and he followed the urge, letting it lead him as he used his speed to blur across the Kansas countryside. Buried deep within a hole, and glowing as it called out to him was a small octagonal shaped piece of metal. This key led him to a nearby field where he found something else.

As he’d stood looking down at his spaceship, long hidden in the middle of an abandoned field near the dead town of Smallville, Star Child felt a sense of homecoming that he’d never felt before.

When the ship directed him to the caves where he spoke to his birth father for the first time, Kal-El finally remembered his true name, and had called himself that ever since.

Kal was eventually able to convince Alex that they’d spent enough time in the caves for now, and that they needed to return to the village before they were missed. He promised Alex that they would return soon, and Alex pouted slightly, but admitted grudgingly that he agreed it was time to go.

Alex might have gotten a little carried away in his excitement about all he had learned in the caves, because when they got back to their teepee, he couldn’t stop talking. Kal gave him an exasperated glare, because it was still very early in the morning and he wanted to sleep, but Alex was having none of that.

Alex was bursting with ideas of things they could do, places they could go, everything they could accomplish with the knowledge they had and the power that Kal possessed. He kept poking at Kal, questioning why he was wasting his time in a small Indian village when he could be conquering the world.

“Lex!” Kal finally shouted.

Alex paused long enough to give him a surprised glance.

“The world is not ready for the likes of you and me, not yet. Do not worry, we will have plenty of time to enact all these grand plans of yours. Right now, the Kawatche are my responsibility, and I take that responsibility very seriously. Great Father is old and he knows that he will not live much longer. He has entrusted care of his people to me, and I will not let him down,” Kal said carefully.

Alex felt shamed that he’d let his enthusiasm get the better of him. The Kawatche had spared his life and taken him in, just as they’d taken Kal in so many years ago. He apologized to Kal, and promised to try and be more patient.

“But once we do decide to conquer the world, can we make sure that it’s my father’s job to massage our weary feet at the end of every day?” Alex whispered into Kal’s ear, and was pleased when his mishidhal laughed.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

**Part Four**

Since it appeared that he’d be spending the next several years of his life as the mate of an Indian chieftain, Alex decided he’d better truly become a part of the Kawatche tribe. Fortunately, his experience with Jor-El had given him not only the ability to speak Kryptonian, but fluent Kawatche as well.

Three more blissful months passed, in which Alex developed friendships within the tribe apart from Kal, including a young man named Owl Feather, truly someone after Alex’s own heart. The boy was about fifteen, and on the verge of his manhood ceremony, but he still had all the playfulness of a child. He and Alex had somehow become involved in a prank war, and were constantly trying to outdo one another.

Without the constant stress of dealing with Gray Deer’s jealousy, Kal seemed much more relaxed and happy. One day, he came stomping out of the teepee and marched over to Owl Feather. Everyone in the village came to a screeching halt and stared at Star Child, whose face, hair, and shoulders were completely drenched in a vivid blue liquid for some reason.

Owl Feather had swallowed nervously, stammering that the prank had been intended for Alex, not him. Star Child was not well-known for his patience, or for his toleration of others messing about in his private space. They were all taken utterly by surprise when Star Child threw his head back and laughed, ruffling Owl Feather’s hair and forgiving him, although he did warn him that he’d better never be caught in the middle of the war between Owl Feather and Alex again.

Alex could barely recall what his life was like before he’d known Kal. With the ‘death’ of the Luthor heir, work on the railroad had ground to a halt, and the Kawatche had not felt the need to defend their territory in many months. Alex sometimes found himself wondering whether his father missed him, whether he mourned the loss of his only child or not, but he didn’t dwell on it often. All he had to do was look at Kal to realize how very lucky he was.

Looking back on things in the years to come, Alex realized he should have remembered that luck can change from good to bad all too quickly.

~*~*~

Alex yawned, and stretched as he woke from a refreshing sleep. Kal had been particularly energetic last night, so the rest had definitely been needed. He smiled lazily as he recalled some of the things they’d gotten up to. He looked around and saw that Kal was already gone, probably headed out on the weekly hunt with the other warriors.

With a sigh, he stood up and dressed quickly, heading out of the teepee towards the river for a quick wash, answering greetings called to him with a wave. By the time he returned, the sun in the sky told him it was already mid-morning. He’d slept in without meaning to and now he was going to be behind in his tasks, damn it. Hopefully, Kal wouldn’t get too upset, since Alex planned to blame it on him anyway.

Kal had trained him in the making of the tribe’s arrows, and that was now Alex’s responsibility. Kal still did the hatchets himself, and it was the job of each warrior to construct his own bow, but Alex now made most of the arrows the tribe used. Soon, he hoped to be able to join the warriors in the hunts, as Kal was also teaching him how to use a bow and arrow.

Alex gathered his materials and headed out to the center of the village to get to work. Maybe he’d be able to get caught up before Kal and the others got back. As he passed Owl Feather, who was helping his mother repair torn clothing, Alex gave him a playful glare and vowed revenge for the latest attack in their war. Owl Feather laughed and taunted him in return.

The rest of the tribe had truly accepted Alex’s place in Kal’s life when they saw him using the blade that Kal had previously never allowed anyone else to touch. The Kawatche knew it had some sort of significance to Star Child, even if they didn’t know what it was.

Alex and Kal knew, of course, that the blade was Kryptonian, and had been left in the cave by some visitor from Krypton in centuries past. Kal had liked the look of it and decided to keep it for his own. That he allowed Alex to use it spoke volumes about how important Alex was to him.

The attack, when it came, was swift and completely unexpected.

There was the sudden report of a rifle shot, so out of context that it took Alex a moment to place exactly what it was. By the time he did, two more shots had rung out and three of the women nearby who had been chatting peacefully moments before were sprawled dead on the ground.

The others began screaming in fear, and in a panic, they tried to get up and run, but the village was suddenly swarmed with men wearing uniforms. Soldiers! Alex could not believe they’d been found. He knew for a fact that his father’s people had been looking for the Kawatche village for years and had never been able to locate it.

Not all of the men were on the hunt, and those who remained quickly began to fight back. Their bows and hatchets might not have been as sophisticated as the guns and rifles of the soldiers, but they were just as accurate and deadly. Soon, there were almost as many of them on the ground dead or dying as there were Kawatche.

In the confusion, Alex was desperately trying to gather up the women and the children who were too young to fight. He shouted at them, attempting to lead them out of the village to hide in the forest. As he ran by a teepee, he caught sight of Owl Feather struggling with a soldier who was fighting him hand-to-hand. Alex ran towards them, grabbing a discarded rifle from the ground. With a hefty swing, he used it as a club on the back of the soldier’s head.

The man crumpled to the ground and Alex looked up into Owl Feather’s wide, frightened eyes. Trying to calm himself down as well, Alex reassured the boy.

“It’s going to be all right. I need you to do something, Owl Feather. You need to run, faster than you ever have before, and find Star Child and the rest of the warriors. Tell them what’s happened, and they’ll come to help. Can you do that?”

“Yes, Alex, I can do that,” Owl Feather said, his voice faint, but Alex could see he was trying to be brave.

“Go, then. Hurry!” Alex said. He watched for a moment as Owl Feather turned and ran towards the forest. As well as being their biggest joker, the boy was the village’s fastest runner – other than Kal, of course – and Alex could only hope that he would find the others in time.

The odds were very much against them, and the Kawatche were slowly losing the battle, as more and more of them fell victim to the bullets the soldiers fired. Alex fought his way towards the direction he’d sent the women and children, hoping that at least some of them had made it to safety. He was dismayed to see that the soldiers were following the ones who were fleeing into the woods, searching them out, and dragging them back to the village to be slaughtered.

He staggered forward as something slammed into his back, and before he could move, a hand was pushing his left arm sharply up behind his back, ripping the Kryptonian blade from his grasp. The next thing Alex knew, he was being dragged out of sight of the battle, the blade was at his throat, and a malicious voice was whispering in his ear.

“I will find it a great pleasure to kill Star Child’s whore with his own blade,” the voice hissed.

It was Gray Deer. Alex couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to believe it. Because if Gray Deer was with the soldiers, that could only mean that he’d betrayed his own people.

“Star Child will rip out your throat with his bare hands!” Alex grunted.

“You speak the language of the Kawatche now? You think that you are one of them? You’re nothing but a demon’s plaything, and I will gut you in front of him!”

“You don’t have Great Father’s necklace this time. You will never get away from him,” Alex said, as he struggled against Gray Deer’s hold.

“Oh, but I do have it. Great Father was the first one to die, and when Star Child comes for you, I will kill you and then I will watch as he weakens, and when his pain is so great that he can no longer move, then I will kill him, too.”

“Why have you done this?” Alex asked, and then cried out in pain as Gray Deer wrenched his arm a little harder.

“Because the Kawatche turned their backs on me! Great Father chose a demon over his own flesh! I was supposed to be the leader of our people, and instead my father allowed a monster to cloud his mind and weaken his will.”

Gray Deer laughed, and a chill ran up Alex’s spine at the slightly manic tinge to the sound. Kal should have killed this lunatic when he had the chance.

“Great Father thought I would perish from being banished? Hah! I found the perfect revenge! I went to _your_ father, demon whore.”

“What?” Alex gasped.

“Yes, I may not speak the white man’s tongue as well as Star Child, but I speak enough. I went to the camp where the railroad workers are, told them I knew where you were, told them I wanted to speak to Lionel Luthor.”

Alex couldn’t help the sob that escaped his throat. This massacre was all his fault! God, he wished Kal had killed Gray Deer during the challenge. If Alex got the chance, he was going to kill Gray Deer himself for bringing this hell down on innocent women and children.

“I don’t think your father was too happy when I told him you were letting an Indian fuck you and keep you as his whore. That was when he talked to the soldiers,” Gray Deer taunted. “In exchange for letting me be the one to kill Star Child, I led them here. Of course, I was not supposed to kill you. This was to be a rescue, although I don’t think your father was going to be very nice to you when he got you back. But I don’t think anyone will be suspicious if you are accidentally killed during the fighting, do you?” Gray Deer said, and Alex could hear the sneer in his voice.

“Gray Deer! Let him go!”

Kal’s voice had never sounded so good to Alex. He would get them both out of this somehow. Alex had faith in his mishidhal; he would not allow them to die at this coward’s hand. Still, Alex needed to warn him about the necklace.

Gray Deer had turned eagerly at Kal’s warning, and now both he and his hostage could see him clearly standing about twenty feet away.

“Kal! He has-” Alex started to say in Kryptonian and then choked as Gray Deer pressed the knife into his throat.

“Shut up, demon whore. I don’t know your words, but you will not warn him,” Gray Deer whispered furiously into Alex’s ear.

“I know, Lex,” Kal replied to Alex’s aborted warning, also using Kryptonian. “He has it on the wrist of the hand behind your back, if you can get it.”

“Stop using that demon language! You will not win here today, Star Child! I will kill him and bathe in his blood!” Gray Deer screamed, and that’s when Alex knew he had to do something quickly. Because the banished Kawatche was clearly no longer sane, and Alex feared he was really about to die at the maniac’s hand.

Alex might not have been a warrior, but he had learned a thing or two about dirty fighting while growing up listening to taunts about his lack of hair. He raised his left foot and brought it down hard on the instep of Gray Deer’s foot.

When the Indian cried out, he loosened his hold on Alex’s arm, and Alex twisted inside and away to avoid the blade at his throat, slamming his right fist into Gray Deer’s face as he did so. As it was, the knife still scraped his neck a little, but when he turned, he was still able to grab the necklace on Gray Deer’s wrist and rip it off. Alex threw it away as hard as he could, falling to the ground with the force of his motion.

Gray Deer roared with frustration, still standing there in shock. He looked up just in time to see Star Child give him an evil smile before he charged. Alex turned over just in time to see Kal literally appear in front of Gray Deer, he’d been moving so fast. He felt relief rush through his weary body. Kal would take care of that bastard this time for sure.

Alex’s eyes started to fall closed…and then he heard Gray Deer laughing hysterically.

Snapping back to attention, Alex couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Kal gave a strangled little cry, and stumbled backwards a step. On instinct, Gray Deer had thrust the blade he still held forward just as Kal had run up to him, and now the knife was buried deep in Kal’s stomach. Gray Deer still held onto the weapon and he continued to laugh as he pulled it from Kal’s belly and lifted it high victoriously, watching his enemy’s blood drip down his hand.

Kal clasped both hands over his wound, and fell to his knees, crying out in pain and agony. Gray Deer looked down at him, madness shining in his eyes.

“I win, Star Child! I have finally beaten you!”

Alex felt a white-hot rage suffusing his entire body, and before he even realized that he was moving, he was up and tackling Gray Deer to the ground. He felt strength he would never have guessed that he could possess and he used it to strip Gray Deer of the weapon that had hurt his mishidhal. Once, twice, three times he brought the blade savagely down into Gray Deer’s chest and neck, and Gray Deer wasn’t laughing anymore now.

Alex sat astride his foe’s vanquished body, tremors running through him, his breath coming in short, harsh gasps. He raised his arm to wipe away the blood that was covering his eyes, blurring his vision.

“L-lex…you have to…” Kal’s words stuttered to a halt as he wheezed, struggling to breathe.

Alex jerked, startled out of his stupor at the sound of Kal’s voice. Dropping the knife, he rushed to Kal’s side, trying to help him to his feet.

“I’ve got to get you out of here,” Alex said fearfully.

Kal shook his head, groaning in pain as Alex succeeded in getting him to his feet. He leaned heavily on Alex, almost making them both fall to the ground again.

“Have to…help the others…soldiers killing…” Kal gasped.

Alex took a quick look around them and knew, as much as it hurt his heart, that there was not much they could do for the Kawatche people now. The soldiers simply outnumbered them by too great a margin.

“It’s too late, Kal. We can’t-” Alex broke off as a sob threatened to choke him. “It’s too late,” he repeated. “But I’m not going to let you die, too.”

Kal’s body started to buckle again, and Alex had to strain to keep him upright. He fought off the rush of fear that swept through him at the realization that Kal might really die.

“Stay with me, Kal! Stay with me! You have to help me get you out of here. I can’t do it by myself. You need to use a little of that speed, love. I know you can do it. Just enough to get us to the caves, can you do that? If we can get to the caves, I know Jor-El can help us,” Alex pleaded.

He slapped Kal’s face lightly with his free arm, and tried to get him moving in the right direction. Kal took a stumbling step or two, raising Alex’s hopes. They shattered again when Kal gave a great sigh and collapsed to the ground, pulling Alex with him. Frantic, Alex rolled an unconscious Kal over to his back and screamed at him.

“NO! No, you don’t, you fucking alien bastard! You’re not going to do this to me! We have a destiny, remember, Kal?! You’re not leaving me to face it alone!” He grabbed Kal’s shoulders and shook him, trying to wake him up. Without realizing it, he switched instinctively to the Kryptonian language. “You promised me, Soul Mate! You promised to protect me! _You promised!_!”

Kal coughed and opened his eyes. “Stop…screaming at me,” he whispered.

Alex gave a half-hysterical bark of laughter, and switched back to English, which was much more satisfying to curse in. “You miserable fucker. You’d better get up off your ass and get us out of this mess.”

“Help me,” Kal said weakly, and reached his hand up to Alex.

Somehow, between the two of them, they got Kal back on his feet, and once again started stumbling towards the direction of the caves. Alex knew it was only luck that they hadn’t been spotted by any of the soldiers yet. And then that luck changed on him, too.

He heard a shout from behind them and risked a look over his shoulder. Easily half a dozen soldiers, running right towards them. Looking back at Kal, he tried not to let his desperation show, but he had to get Kal moving if they were going to live.

“Kal, you have to use your speed. It’s the only way and you have to do it _now_ , or we are going to die. You swore to protect me. Are you going to let these soldiers kill me?” Alex said, his tone intense.

He was trying not to think of his words as selfish, but Alex knew the way Kal’s mind worked. The idiot would let himself be killed without a second thought, but he would do anything to protect his Lex. Hopefully, the notion would be enough for Kal to find some tiny spark of strength deep down inside and let him use his gifts now.

Kal grunted as he wrapped an arm around Alex and lifted him off the ground. He could only manage an inch or two, but it was enough. And then he ran. Alex could tell it was nowhere near his normal speed, but it was sufficient to get them away from the village. This tale would probably be told for years to come by the men who’d witnessed it. Alex had seen Kal take off running in super speed before. To those soldiers, it would appear as though Kal and Alex had vanished into thin air.

Unfortunately, Kal ran out of steam after only about thirty seconds. He slowed more and more until he finally stopped and fell to the ground, again taking Alex with him.

“No more…can…run…no more,” Kal panted, and Alex was alarmed at how pale he was.

“That’s all right. You did good, you got us out of there. I knew you could,” Alex praised him, even as he stood up and tried to get his bearings on where they were. He had no idea how far they had been able to go, but he guessed it was no more than four or five miles. The caves were probably at least another five miles away.

“Okay, we need to find some shelter. You can rest, I’ll take care of your wound, and then…then we’ll go on to the caves, and Jor-El will fix this. He will,” Alex said. He was uncertain if he was trying to reassure Kal or himself.

The fates decided to grant them a small boon, as Alex found a long abandoned shack – probably used by trappers before the Kawatche had either killed them or scared them off their land – a few hundred yards to the south of them. He hurried back to Kal with a little hope in his heart. He’d been expecting to have to build a lean-to, and this was much better. It would give Alex more time to take care of his mishidhal.

It felt like an Herculean effort, but Alex eventually got Kal to the shack and laid him down on the floor, fretting that he didn’t have any way to make it more comfortable. Kal’s breathing was shallow and labored, and Alex bit his lip with worry as he sat down beside him. He pried Kal’s hand away from the wound where it had been pressed almost since Gray Deer had yanked the blade out of his body.

When he did so, a flow of dark red blood gushed out of Kal and all over the floor. Kal shuddered and went completely unconscious again. Alex stared in horror at the injury, which was far, far worse than he’d realized.

“Oh, god,” Alex moaned. Kal was going to die and there was nothing he could do.

He had nothing to help him deal with this; no cloth to try and stop the bleeding, no needle to try and stitch the gaping flesh closed, not even any water to try and clean the area. Alex felt tears fill his eyes, and begin to stream down his face.

“Oh, god,” he repeated. “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me,” he sobbed and laid his forehead on his lover’s chest, winding one hand into Kal’s hair. This was pain like he’d never known in his life. It had hurt losing his mother; he’d felt as though his heart had been ripped in two. To lose Kal would be like losing his soul. Kal was his mishidhal, his soul mate, his other half. Alex couldn’t bear it, he couldn’t.

He felt a tentative caress on the top of his head and looked up to see Kal smiling faintly at him, his eyes dulled with pain. Kal stroked his cheek in his familiar way, and Alex felt his heart squeeze.

“Will…always…love you,” Kal whispered. “Always…be with…you…in spirit,” he promised.

“I will always love you, too, but I don’t want your spirit, Kal. I want you! I can’t go on without you. I can’t,” Alex choked through his tears.

“My Lex,” Kal sighed, almost happily, and a dreamy smile crossed his face. Then his eyes slid closed and he stopped breathing.

“No! No, no, no, no,” Alex cried and pounded on Kal’s chest in fear and anger and frustration. No, he would not give up so easily! He was Alexander Joseph Luthor and one thing he had never been in his life was a quitter. Defiantly, he pressed both hands over the hole in Kal’s stomach, determined to do everything he could do to stop the blood from flowing, if he had to hold it in Kal’s body with the sheer force of his own will.

A bright light blossomed under his hands, flowing upward and outward and swallowing up both Kal and Alex completely. Alex gaped at the energy pulsing between himself and Kal, noting in wonder that it felt soothing and cool where it seemed it should have felt hot. He could feel the hum and buzz of it through his whole body. It lasted for several seconds before it gradually diminished, slipping away and leaving Alex feeling as though he’d been wrapped in a comforting embrace.

Alex lifted his hands up in front of him and stared at them incredulously. Kal gasped in a huge breath of air, and gave a little cough before falling still once more. Only now he seemed to be relaxed in sleep instead of unconscious. And he was breathing!

Alex’s gaze fell to Kal’s stomach and his breath caught in his throat in awe. He lowered his face to the level of Kal’s belly and looked again to be certain that he wasn’t dreaming. The wound was completely healed. There was nothing there but a small scar, vaguely in the shape of the Kryptonian blade.

Hesitantly, he reached his hand up and rubbed it across the blood-stained, but whole, skin of Kal’s torso. He started crying again, only this time his tears were ones of joy and relief. Alex wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, he just knew that he wasn’t going to lose Kal.

He stretched out beside Kal, wrapping his arms around his mishidhal protectively, and fell into an exhausted slumber.

~*~*~

Kal slept for two days, but Alex was no longer worried. He knew in his soul that Kal was going to be all right. In the meantime, Alex’s woodsman skills were being sorely tested. He didn’t want to wander too far away from Kal while he was asleep, and so he limited his hunting to within a few hundred yards of the shack. And since he had no weapons, he had to recall how Kal had shown him to fashion traps. He was most pleased when he was successful, and even more pleased when he was able to start a fire on his own.

He had even found a tiny stream of water that flowed nearby, no doubt the reason the original owners of the shack had built it in this spot in the first place. Still, his greatest moment of happiness came when Kal finally opened his eyes.

They stayed in the shack for another couple of days while Kal regained his strength. Then the only decision to make was whether to go to the caves first to check in with Jor-El, or to attempt to go back to the village, to see if anyone else had survived.

Alex voted for the caves as he had a lot of questions about just how he had managed the healing, but Kal had no answers for him and almost as many questions himself. However, Kal was anxious to go to the village and find out the fate of the people he considered himself responsible for.

Alex didn’t want him to go back there at all, because he knew the odds were that no one else had lived through the attack, but Kal was insistent. So, on the fifth day, after they were both confident that Kal was back to full health, he picked Alex up and ran back to the Kawatche village.

It was just as bad as Alex had feared it would be. Every man, woman, and child had been slain, some of the females showing signs of having been raped before they were killed. Kal and Alex both had to fight back tears as they methodically buried friends and family. Alex nearly lost it when he came upon Owl Feather’s body, mere yards from the spot where Alex had last spoken to him. They comforted one another silently, touching and embracing often, saddened to have lost their adopted family, but grateful to still be alive themselves.

When they could do no more, Kal once again picked Alex up and they sped to the caves. Jor-El listened as they explained what had happened in the Kawatche village and in the trapper’s shack.

“Alexander Luthor’s body has been altered, Kal-El, both by the meteor shower on the day you arrived, and by myself on the day you claimed him as your mate. Your life span will be long, my Son, and Alexander will now be able to share that with you. As for the healing, it is a rare and wonderful thing that sometimes happens between two deeply bonded souls. Truly, you should cherish the connection between the two of you.”

“We do, Father,” Kal said and gave Alex a warm, loving look.

“Yes, we certainly do,” Alex agreed as he returned his soul mate’s gaze.

They spent a few days in the caves, mourning and remembering the Kawatche people together, and then planning what they were going to do next. Alex knew they would have to deal with Lionel sooner or later, but he was perfectly willing to put that off until as much later as he could get away with.

“It looks like we will be exploring some of your plans and ideas sooner than we had thought, Lex,” Kal said.

“I’ve had a few new thoughts, too,” Alex said with a wicked grin.

“I suppose I will have to leave Star Child behind me now. It will be easier for us to travel as two white men than as a white man and an Indian,” he said wistfully.

“Yep, and that means you’ll have to cut your hair,” Alex said, the grin growing wider.

Kal grimaced at him. But then he shot Alex a wicked smile of his own. “Hah, but that means you will no longer be able to play with it and braid it.”

“Hmm, this is true. Maybe you could keep it a little long,” Alex admitted. He promptly reached over and began to braid a section of Kal’s hair. “Better do it while I still can,” he grinned. “What about your name? Kal-El is not exactly going to work either.”

“I do not know. I had not thought of that.” He smiled indulgently as he tilted his head towards Alex so that he could reach his hair easier, and took the opportunity to steal a kiss as he did so.

“Well, you were once known as Clark Kent, weren’t you?”

“Yes, but that was so long ago,” Kal demurred.

“I like the name Clark. It has character,” Alex teased. “Tell you what. If you’ll go by Clark, I’ll start going by Lex.”

Kal pretended to think it over and then nodded, laughing as Alex playfully beat him on the nose with the braid he’d just finished. Lex leaned forward and kissed Clark, softly, tenderly, sealing the pact they’d just made.

Clark smiled when he pulled away and said, “Clark Kent and Lex Luthor. I like the sound of that.”

-fin-


End file.
